DESPITE all of the rain that has fallen, the ground at Cheltenham last week dried up as quickly as a Guinness glass in March, writes Page Fuller. Even the jockeys appeared to underestimate the speed of the ground underfoot. This is evident because seven of the horses that raced over the weekend now rank among the top 10 fastest final four furlongs in our database at Cheltenham.

The most eye-catching of which was They Call Me Hugo, who finished third in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle on Saturday. For the majority of the race, Sean Bowen was content to sit at the rear of the field, despite the steady early fractions. This meant that, despite not letting the front horses too far out of his sight, they were still able to get first run on him.

They finished so fast, his final half-mile time of 52.42 seconds is the third fastest final half-mile time of the 2,222 runners we have in our database at Cheltenham. It was less than 0.1 seconds slower than Fortune De Mer in the two-mile handicap on Friday.

Coupled with the fact that, despite producing sustained speed like that which wasn’t enough to close the deficit, he also forfeited 0.59 lengths to Carlenrig with a novicey and slow jump at the last.

It’s always difficult to judge future form when a race is run so falsely. But the right horses were involved in the finish, and They Call Me Hugo certainly looks a blacktype winner in the waiting.