THURLES on Thursday week witnessed a decidedly good contest for the Kinloch Brae Chase, with Sizing John getting up late on to deny Sub Lieutenant in a time fully 8.0s quicker than recorded by the useful mare Westerner Lady in the following contest.

Sizing John ran the same classy timefigure of 163 as he had when brushed aside by Douvan at Leopardstown at Christmas, but this victory clearly gives connections more options regarding trip, as he was not stopping at the end of the two and a half miles. The runner-up confirmed his previous figure of 160.

The meeting at Leopardstown on Sunday provided another chance to assess Yorkhill (145) as a novice chaser, the Willie Mullins-trained gelding having won a maiden at Fairyhouse on his only other start over larger obstacles.

In the event, Yorkhill rewarded those who had supported him at long odds-on, but by just a length and a quarter from the outsider Jett, an honest individual but one who had been beaten off a mark of 132 in a hurdle as recently as November and who has yet to win a chase.

The time was decent - worth a 145 timefigure for the winner - and so were the closing sectionals, but that observation applies to Jett more or less as much as it does to Yorkhill.

There are several other contenders for the JLT Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival with form and time every bit as good as in this sphere as Yorkhill and his new odds for that race make little appeal.

The Coral-sponsored handicaps were the most valuable races on Leopardstown’s card, and provided competitive fare but nothing out of the ordinary on the stopwatch: A Toi Phil recorded a 145 timefigure while lightly-weighted Ice Cold Soul posted just a 126.