FINIAN’S OSCAR, one of last season’s leading novice hurdlers, made his debut over fences at Chepstow last Saturday in a listed novice chase and landed the odds easily by 11 lengths. So far, so good, though there were elements of his performance that were less taking than those facts convey.

Finian’s Oscar was not foot-perfect early on and was left with little to beat once 155-rated Alcala slipped up on the home turn. His overall time was mediocre – about 7.0s slower than Romain De Senam on near-identical ground 24 hours later – and worth a timefigure of just 118, though sectionals show that all of that, and more besides, was lost in the home straight, by which point Finian’s Oscar was coasting.

It is more likely than not that Finian’s Oscar will be as good a novice chaser as he was as a novice hurdler (in which sphere he ran a 149 timefigure in defeat at Punchestown), but his reputation continues to outstrip his achievements on the course and clock.

There were also useful winning timefigures at Chepstow on Saturday from Court Minstrel (136, Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle) and Rock The Kasbah (129), the latter winning for just the second time since taking the race Finian’s Oscar won 12 months ago.

The only graded race over jumps in the week gone by was the Grade 2 Persian War Novices’ Hurdle at Chepstow on Sunday, won by Poetic Rhythm with a timefigure of 137 – third-best among novice hurdlers so far this campaign – from Amour De Nuit (136). The Punchestown Land Rover Bumper winner Vision Des Flos (132) made a decent impression on his debut over timber in third.

The aforementioned Romain De Senam was fractionally quicker than Poetic Rhythm with a 138 timefigure, followed not far behind among winners on Sunday at Chepstow by the enigmatic veteran Bob Ford (132).

Things have been fairly quiet of late over jumps in Ireland, but there were a couple of smart winners on time in the last week in the shape of A Genie In Abottle (Galway minor chase winner, 151 timefigure) and Ballyoisin.

The latter took a well-contested handicap chase at Cork on Sunday under top weight in some style and returned a 154 timefigure. That is joint-fifth-best among chasers in Ireland and Britain this term as things stand, but these are early days for sure.