THE saying is that autumn rides in on the tail of the last horse in the St Leger (which was The Anvil) but some meaningful indicators for what lies ahead have already been put down.

Last week’s Listowel Festival took place on what might be termed “proper winter ground”, with my going allowances indicating some of the most testing conditions seen anywhere in the last year. There were, all the same, a handful of useful efforts against the clock.

Kylecrue returned a 142 timefigure in winning a handicap chase on the Sunday before flopping in the Kerry National on Wednesday, won by Potters Point with a 146 timefigure.

Potters Point himself had last been beaten in a Grade 3 at Galway by Rathvinden, and the latter was back to winning ways in a novice chase on the Saturday of Listowel, scoring by 20 lengths in by some way the best relative time on the card.

Rathvinden has claims to be considered the best novice chaser seen in either Ireland or Britain so far, with his 147 timefigure here only about 10 below what is usually required to win a race like the JLT Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March. That said, Rathvinden will be 10 in the New Year, so time is not exactly on his side.

Lagostovegas put up the best hurdling timefigure by a winner at Listowel when taking the Ladbrokes Ireland Handicap on Thursday with a 145 performance. However, Swamp Fox in fourth was conceding lumps of weight all round and was not disgraced with a 151 timefigure compared to his previous best of 158 at Galway.

Pick of the recent jumping action in Britain was the win of Hammersly Lake under a big weight at Perth, a performance that was worth a 153 figure on time.