YOU have to go back to 2002 and Rooster Booster to find the last winner of the International Hurdle (still known as the Bula in those days) to go onto success in the Champion Hurdle in the same season.

It is substantial odds against this year’s victor, Call Me Lord, repeating that feat, but the cupboard is not exactly overflowing with credible candidates for the big race in March, it has to be said.

On the face of it, Call Me Lord did not achieve a whole lot in beating the somewhat limited Ballyandy by a neck in an ordinary time, but there was more to it than that, and a semi-positive view appears to be justified.

That time was in large part down to a pace that saw the leader in the International get to two out around 10 lengths behind the leader in the earlier Triumph Hurdle Trial. From there, however, the participants in the former came home very quickly, with Call Me Lord fastest of all.

His time ended up 2.3s (again about 10 lengths) faster than Botox Has’s in that juvenile race, and is far more respectable once those fast late sectionals have been factored in.

On my figures, Call Me Lord comes out at 158 on sectionals – right back to his previous best – with runner-up Ballyandy on a new high of 157, Ch’tibello on 156 a fraction below his previous peak of 158, Monsieur Lecoq on a slightly improved 149 and Pentland Hills repeating his Triumph Hurdle-winning figure of 147.

The proximity of Ballyandy raises some doubts, it must be conceded, but not the others. Pentland Hills shaped about best (went as low as 1.61 in running) and could well run into the high-150s or low-160s with this under his belt. That is Champion Hurdle-placed territory at least.

That Botox Has performance earlier on the card does look to provide a decent comparison, for that one’s sectionals were close to par and he is clearly useful, having split Allmankind and Repetitio here previously.

Botox Has emerges with a highly respectable 136 figure after a minor sectional adjustment – with runner-up Langer Dan on 131 – but was fully 5.4s (over 20 lengths) slower than Call Me Lord from two out, which was 4.25f from home.

Whether Call Me Lord and Ballyandy are legitimate Champion Hurdle contenders or not, there can be no doubting from Saturday that they have no shortage of speed for hurdlers.