WE got the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase last Sunday, before the rest of the meeting was abandoned due to fog, but we did not get to see much of it, and time analysis is close to futile in the circumstances. Min emerged victorious, but by just a length from Tornado Flyer, who had been beaten in a handicap the time before, with Melon in third and Allaho especially disappointing in last of six finishers.

The last-named could be seen closing approaching four out (I think) then beating a hasty retreat soon after it, with his jockey stating that he had made two bad mistakes along the way. I have a figure of 163 on Min for this (Tornado Flyer 162 and Melon 155), but it is anyone’s guess what it is really worth or what went on!

Skyace’s win in the listed mares’ novice compared reasonably well with the only other hurdle on the card and can be rated a cautious 132.

Visibility was fine the same afternoon over at Cork, where Chacun Pour Soi had things under control in the Grade 2 Hilly Way Chase when his two nearest rivals departed at the last. This was more workmanlike than spectacular, but Chacun Pour Soi was conceding weight all round and I have a 161 timefigure on this (the gelding is rated 169 overall).

Chacun Pour Soi ran the extended two miles on heavy ground in a time 1.4s (around six lengths) quicker than 137-rated Mount Ida managed, carrying 15lb less, in the Grade 3 mares’ novice chase half an hour later. That is a healthy enough difference all told.

There was also a useful win from the progressive Sayce Gold in a rather weak Grade 3 Stayers Novice Hurdle, for which the mare gets a 134 time-based rating.

Andy Dufresne had won at that same level at Navan the day before, a 150-rated effort on time despite his having only two rivals (146-rated runner-up Embittered seems sure to win races).

Conflated paid a compliment to Asterion Forlonge (who had beaten him the time before) by winning a beginners’ chase on the same card easily and with a 142 timefigure. He was fractionally quicker than Crossed My Mind, the winner of the handicap chase later on, despite carrying 28lb more so could be rated higher still. Third-placed The Big Getaway (121) will surely do a lot better in time.

Other notable winning performances on that Navan card came from Flooring Porter (150), who turned a seemingly open staying handicap hurdle into a procession, while the Willie Mullins-trained Kilcruit (128), who looked about as good a bumper prospect as any outside Sir Gerhard when winning by nine and a half lengths in the finale.

It is difficult to put an accurate figure on the win of Mary Frances at Clonmel last Thursday. She won by a remarkable 45 lengths but it is possible she was the only one to run anywhere near her best. The race was the only one on the card at a long distance and over hurdles, so time analysis is questionable. A rating of 143 seeks to strike a balance between what she had done previously (135 maximum) and what she might have done here.