IT was Cheltenham Festival Trials day last weekend and there was one horse who really stood out as a contender for March, even if he didn’t win, writes Page Fuller. Quebecois made a disappointing start to his chasing career, beaten as odds-on favourite on debut, and then finishing a tailed off last in the Grade 2 Esher Novices’ Chase, both races were over three miles. The drop back to two and a half miles on soft ground in the Novices’ Handicap Chase seemed to make the difference. Freddie Gingell was keen to sit handy and get a lead, but the pace was not strong.

His average entry speed over the final three was four miles per hour faster than the first 14. His jumping was also far more impressive than last time, an improvement in all respects. Quebecois was always going to be vulnerable in a race which turned into such a sprint. He has only gone up 4lbs, and a recreation of that performance in the Jack Richards’ Novices’ Chase could see him to the fore.