WITH Cheltenham closing in fast, not many days go by without providing us with more insights into the championship races, writes Page Fuller.

Unfortunately, horses can’t always catch the eye for the right reason, though, and last weekend that horse was Oscars Brother.

He landed his second Grade 2 Chase in good style last Sunday at Navan, keeping it simple in front and galloping his rivals into the ground. He clearly has an engine, but his jumping so far over fences has left us wanting.

Very slow

He is clean and safe, but unfortunately very slow in his jumping. It is really going to have to sharpen up if he wants to make the step up to Grade 1 company.

He is a lovely, big, galloping horse, so in hindsight, his defeats on good ground in his first two attempts over fences were inevitable. However, it was his jumping in particular that let him down.

On debut, he forfeited more than 17 lengths to Western Fold through his slow jumping, but was only beaten eight lengths.

Next time out, he was only beaten two lengths by Mossy Fen Park, but had forfeited more than six lengths jumping to him.

It hasn’t improved for the experience either. He’s just been getting away with it when the emphasis has been on stamina and rhythm rather than jumping.

Obstacles

At Navan, he jumped the worst of the four runners, losing a massive 6.31mph on average at his obstacles and only recorded a Jump Index of 4.9 out of 10. They still couldn’t get near him though.

He is sure to find three miles and a furlong in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham too sharp, just as Ballyburn did last year. However, four miles two furlongs around Aintree might be a little more forgiving.