LAST Tuesday at Punchestown was a day that could reverberate through the entire National Hunt season.

The day started with a trumpet blast as Tycoon Prince made just about all the running under Bryan Cooper to land the two-mile maiden hurdle. The Gigginstown House horse ran in three bumpers last season for Gordon Elliott, and he won all three. He didn’t go to Cheltenham, but the plan was always to skip Cheltenham, let him off after he won at Naas in February. There was never any doubt about the regard in which he was held by connections.

If you wanted to be hyper-critical on Tuesday, you could point to the fact that he jumped to his left on occasion. Even so, he was most impressive. It probably wasn’t ideal for him that he had to make his own running, and he should do even better when he steps up from the minimum trip. He has an engine all right.

The two-mile beginners’ chase was won by Sizing John, again, in impressive fashion. Henry de Bromhead’s horse was a high-class novice hurdler last season, a Grade 1 winner, but he was always built for a future over fences. He jumped well for Jonathan Burke on Tuesday, his fluency improving as the race progressed, and he had the race in the bag from long before the home turn.

The Midnight Legend gelding was beaten three times by Douvan over hurdles last season, at Gowran and at Cheltenham and at Punchestown, he has 10lb to find with Willie Mullins’ horse on official hurdles ratings, but he ran a cracker in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham when he didn’t have the run of the race, and he shapes like he could leave his hurdles form well behind over fences. He is a really exciting chasing prospect this term. Interestingly, this is the race in which both Noble Prince and Forpadydeplasterer got off the mark over fences, and those two both went on to land novice chases at Cheltenham the following March.

No More Heroes, who was imperious in landing the two and a half mile beginners’ chase, a race that has been won in the recent past by Shanahan’s Turn, Morning Assembly and Pandorama.

Another Gigginstown/Elliott/Cooper charge, the Presenting gelding was superb at his fences for a debutant. He attacked them with verve. He appeared to relish the challenge that each large black obstacle posed.

Like Sizing John, he was a high-class novice hurdler last season, albeit over longer distances. He beat Shaneshill in the Grade 2 Navan Hurdle, and he might have won the Albert Bartlett Hurdle at Cheltenham had he enjoyed a clearer passage up the home straight. For all of that, it was always as a steeplechaser that he was going to excel, and he is shaping up to be a good one.

The season is but a pup, and it is unlikely that a single raceday in October has ever produced three Cheltenham Festival winners, but it will be really interesting to see how these three progress as the season develops.