CHELTENHAM’S first meeting of the season helped whet the appetite for the months ahead and featured a beaten pair, who it should pay to follow in Kashchei and Katate Dori, writes Andy Stephens.

The former, trained by Cian Collins, finished fourth in the three-mile novices’ hurdle but would surely have won had he jumped as well as any of the trio who finished in front of him.

Kashchei jumped right almost the whole journey and surrendered ground at all bar the 12th and final flight. The data tells us he lost an aggregate of 8.31 lengths, whereas the first three gained between 2.85 and 6.48 lengths.

Nevertheless, the six-year-old rallied up the hill and was beaten an aggregate of only four lengths by the winner, Woodstock Octo, who was only a smidgeon quicker than him through the final furlong. This is not the first time Kashchei has jumped to his right and I’d imagine left-hand tracks will now be off his dance card. On the plus side, he confirmed that stamina is very much his strong suit.

Katate Dori finished a length and a quarter second to Here Comes Georgie in the three-mile, one-furlong handicap chase, but this was another story of what might have been, given the data tells us he surrendered 13 lengths to the winner over the 18 fences, including almost three lengths at the last alone.

The Sam Thomas-trained eight-year-old is suited by deeper ground and, granted softer going, will be interesting in the Coral Gold Trophy at Newbury on November 28th (sixth last year when he had excuses), plus the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow a month later.