YOU can, as they say, only beat what is put in front of you. But at least, with access to sectionals, we can go beyond the rather prosaic details of Epatante’s reappearance win in the Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle last Saturday, when, in receipt of a sex allowance, she beat Sceau Royal by four and a quarter lengths, with the merely useful pair Ribble Valley and Voix Du Reve not too far behind.

That might be worth a figure of only around 150 on the winner on the bare facts, but we know that Epatante showed an electric turn of foot – 12.53s for the final furlong and under 26.0s for the final quarter of a mile – resulting in a finishing speed above 105% on a slightly uphill finish. That sort of kick is seen very rarely in the jumps code.