LAST week’s column dealt with the first two days of the 2017 Cheltenham Festival, leaving Thursday and Friday to be picked up now.

Things looked quite evenly balanced between Britain and Ireland in the Prestbury Cup when we last convened: how things change!

Thursday saw a remarkable six of seven races go the way of Irish-trained horses – equaling the haul on the same day 12 months before – with the exception being one of the three handicaps.

Races on the last two days took place on the more galloping New Course, which, somewhat surprisingly, had been watered for good measure. Times suggest the ground was good to soft on the hurdle track and good on the chase one as a consequence.

The fact that the centrepiece Stayers’ Hurdle was run over the same course and distance as the Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle 80 minutes earlier makes for ready one-on-one comparisons, and does not reflect especially well on the championship event.

The Stayers’ was run in an overall time just 0.6secs quicker than the handicap, despite the winner of the latter, Presenting Percy, carrying 1lb more than the winner of the former, Nichols Canyon. That makes for winning timefigures of 153 and 155 respectively, the latter 7 below Nichols Canyon’s recent best.

Closer inspection of the sectionals for the two races show that the closing stages were run in remarkably similar fashion but that things had been more uneven prior to that. The handicap had been comfortably ahead early on, then the Stayers’ was well ahead mid-race, before something like parity was restored.

UNEVEN PACING

Both winners were held up several lengths back, and that probably helped as some of those closer up paid for the uneven pacing. Nonetheless, it is impossible to dress up that Stayers’ time as truly championship standard. Third-placed Unowhatimeanharry was below his best on this occasion but never had a great deal in hand of his rivals on time in any case.

It looks worth giving Presenting Percy a try against the top stayers, especially as he is improving in leaps and bounds and they do not seem a strong bunch. What’s more, he wasn’t exactly hard-ridden to win by a comfortable margin here: he may not get a better opportunity.

There were not many obvious hard-luck stories in either race, but it is worth persevering with the novice Ballymalin, seventh in the Pertemps, whose front-running style should be easier to pull off in smaller fields. He has some form in the book which suggests his BHA mark of 138 will not prove beyond him.