IT is said that “it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good”, and the ill wind and torrential downpours that put paid to the high-profile Saturday flat meetings at Doncaster and Newbury last weekend proved to be to the benefit of the jumps, especially to Cheltenham on the same day.

Then again, the racing at Prestbury Park had to survive its own inspection, and the runners there faced conditions that would have been harsh even by mid-winter standards.

Perversely, the main race at Aintree the following day – the Old Roan Handicap Chase – was affected by too much sun, causing several obstacles to be omitted. We got four seasons of weather, if not in one day, then in the course of one weekend!

There were several highlights of the two days at Cheltenham, starting with the novice chasers Al Dancer and Mulcahys Hill on the Friday.

The former, who had gone off joint-favourite for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival in March, ran to only 137 on time in beating Not That Fuisse readily at two miles but does look like taking high rank among novice chasers this campaign, if perhaps not as high as Getaway Trump (130 here), who shaped with considerable promise in third.

Mulcahys Hill posted a 136 timefigure in edging out the penalised Wholestone (141) in the three-miler later on the card.

Slate House bettered both of those figures when winning a novice chase over an intermediate distance on the Saturday, worth 143 in winning by fully 11 lengths from 131-rated Garo De Juilley.

There had been gutsy victories earlier on the Cheltenham Saturday card from Quel Destin (144), possibly helped by steering a wider course than market rival Torpillo (138 here, 148 previously) in the Minor Hurdle, and from Saint Calvados.

The last-named has long been talented, if not always easy to predict due to sometimes overdoing things up front. But his performance here was more restrained and it paid dividends in a race which resulted in quite a slow finish. That negatively impacted the overall time, and Saint Calvados can run to about a stone higher than the 147 he registered here.

Tobefair’s overall time in the Pertemps Qualifier was negatively impacted in the opposite way, a pedestrian early pace resulting in a 20.0s (well over a furlong) shortfall compared to the novice hurdle won by Ramses De Teillee (127 timefigure) which followed it.

Tobefair gets a 66 figure, which is nowhere near the 150-or-so he should be capable of in a well-run race: this is form to treat with considerable scepticism.

Brewin’upastorm’s chasing career had started a few days earlier at lowly Carlisle, but he impressed as much as any novice in the period under review by overhauling the front-running Good Boy Bobby late on, both geldings posting 140 timefigures but the winner looking capable of a good deal better in due course.

Another contender for major novice chase honours emerged at Wexford on Monday in the form of Éclair De Beaufeu, who strolled home by 19 lengths and registered a 146 timefigure in the process.

His time certainly compares well with Champagne Classic’s 132 on the same card at a longer distance in a listed race in which runner-up Discorama (133) shaped encouragingly.

Battleoverdoyen achieved less in winning at Galway but looks sure to improve on his 127 timefigure sooner rather than later.

That Old Roan Chase at Aintree went impressively enough to Forest Bihan running for the red-hot Brian Ellison stable, though the absence of fences in the closing stages may have benefited him more than some others.

Quick late sectionals take him up to 153, while runner-up Kalashnikov is considered to be two below his previous 152 best.