WE are sometimes told that the few weeks leading up to the Cheltenham Festival are a sort of Phoney War, of much talk yet little action, but it has not seemed that way this year. February has served up some excellent fare in its own right, and last weekend lacked little.

The big Newbury meeting, carried forward from the previous week, featured two Grade 2s and a Grade 3 and had a discernible effect on the betting for the Cheltenham Festival next month.

Those Grade 2s were the Betfair-sponsored Denman Chase and Game Spirit Chase, and both resulted in very smart winners. Secret Investor was nothing like the surprise depicted in some quarters in taking the former by a neck from Clan Des Obeaux, given that he was rated 161 going in to the race and was receiving 6lb.

That is probably the figure he ran to, too, completing the near three miles 5.0s quicker than the143-rated Enrilo managed later on, which means that Clan Des Obeaux ran pretty much to his best on 167, for all that he ended up losing a race he looked like winning (went 1/4 in running).

Neither of those figures is likely to be enough to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, for which the five-year winning average is 170 on my figures, and nor is the 165 that Champ posted in coming second to Sceau Royal (also 165) in the Game Spirit.

But Champ shaped well over a two-mile trip that is likely to prove well short of his best, jumping better than he has done and having no problem in going the fast pace until his speedy rival got past late on. A few in the Cheltenham Gold Cup field have better form/time claims than Champ, but perhaps none has his potential.

The Betfair Hurdle saw a one-two for novices in a strongly run race in which the form should stand up, Soaring Glory (142) finding more to hold off Fifty Ball (136) and Edwardstone (149) with a 101.4% finishing speed.

Britain’s bumper prospect

Good Risk At All, winner of the listed bumper, deserves to be regarded as Britain’s best bumper prospect going into Cheltenham on 136, though that is still comfortably behind Kilcruit (144) and Sir Gerhard (143).

The other Newbury winners were Gowel Road (140, but did not have to run that fast here in a falsely run race) and Polish (135), the latter benefiting most from an end-to-end gallop.