THERE seemed to be more than the usual number of upsets over the course of the festive period this year, and near the top of the list was the 16/1 victory of Simply Ned in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase on the second day of the Leopardstown meeting (day one and St Stephen’s day action in Britain having been dealt with in last week’s Time Will Tell).

Perhaps that is harsh on a horse who also won the race 12 months earlier, though only after the intervention of the stewards, but this latest win did look extremely unlikely for much of the way, with the runner-up Footpad trading at 1.01 and Simply Ned at the equivalent of 169/1 in running.

But Footpad started to tread water up the run-in just as Simply Ned finally found top gear, and the veteran British chaser eventually scored by fully half a length.

In time terms, it is possible to be pretty positive about this performance, with Simply Ned completing the two miles and one furlong 5.8s quicker than Paloma Blue did in the preceding beginners’ chase, though less than 10 lengths covered the first five finishers and Great Field would also have been in among those had he not fallen when second but weakening at the final fence.

I have Simply Ned running a 162 time here, equal to Sceau Royal in Britain but a long way behind Altior (174), and Paloma Blue comes out at 125 as a result.

However, perhaps the main thing to take away from events is that Footpad looked every bit as good for most of the way as he did when running away with the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham in March, perhaps just still needing the race here. I have reinstated his timefigure (now 171 after some revision) from that performance. He should be a worthy rival to the aforementioned Altior at least.

NOVICE

The other Grade 1 on the Leopardstown Thursday card is another race to respect as far as the stopwatch is concerned. Indeed, the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle produced the best time performance by a novice hurdler so far this season, though that may not be saying a great deal in a low-key campaign to date.

The horse in question is Aramon, who quickened impressively to draw 10 lengths and more clear of the well-touted Sancta Simona and others in a time that was 1.6s quicker than that recorded by the useful handicapper Jetez soon after and 3.4s quicker than Sir Erec had managed in the opening maiden hurdle, despite Aramon carrying more weight than either of that pair.

Aramon is now on 149 on timefigures, which is a significant step up on what he managed when only third of four to his stable-companion Quick Grabim in a much more muddling Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse at the beginning of December.

Jetez gets a respectable 127 timefigure and Sir Erec just 118, though the latter was about two lengths faster up the run-in than Aramon went on to be, underlining that conditions will not have played to his strengths given how well he stays on the flat. Sir Erec should certainly run a lot faster another day.