PERHAPS the most significant performance of the week away from Newbury came at Huntingdon on Thursday, when Shishkin won the Sidney Banks Memorial Novices’ Hurdle by 11 lengths.

The opposition could have been stronger, but they were all useful, and in dismissing them as he did Shishkin took another big step to stardom. I have a 155 rating after a sectional upgrade, which is heady stuff, though this is proving to be a vintage season for shorter-distanced novice hurdlers.

There were good wins at Warwick last Saturday for Rouge Vif (150 rating) in the Kingmaker Novices’ Chase, Indefatigable (137) in the Listed Mares’ Hurdle and Clondaw Castle (144) in the handicap chase.

The first-named also had implications for other strands of form, for Rouge Vif had last been seen finishing second to Global Citizen (now 152) in a fast-time Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at Kempton over Christmas, while the Warwick runner-up Nube Negra (142 here, 146 previously) did little for the form of the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase won by Esprit Du Large (downgraded to 148) at Sandown in December.

Clondaw Castle has always shown bags of pace, and he showed a bit more stamina to last out the two and a half miles in this. Friday’s meetings included an impressive bumper win for Sprinter Sacre’s brother Flinteur Sacre (remains on 120) at Kempton and authoritative successes at Bangor for Annie Mc in a falsely-run mares’ novices’ chase and Bob And Co in the hunter chase.

Annie Mc did not get near her previous times in a muddling affair, and remains on 135, but it was still no mean feat for Bob And Co to run the two and a half miles some 8.8s quicker than her (and carrying 12lbs more). Bob And Co was not far behind the best in France, and his 144 rating has him top for the Foxhunter at the Festival.