BRITISH racing goes into the 2016 Cheltenham Festival on happier terms with itself than for many a year, following last week’s announcement of the government’s intention of establishing a racing right to replace a levy, now long past its sell-by date.

Under the assured leadership of Nick Rust, the British Horseracing Authority seems to be getting its act together at last, though the assembled mandarins at last week’s Industry Updates (another welcome Rust initiative) were at pains not to appear triumphalist in any way.

Things do not look as healthy for the home team at Cheltenham as they used to but they look remarkably healthy for an Irish raiding party spearheaded by Willie Mullins and with many short-priced contenders on their side in the aim to bring back the Prestbury Cup.

And British racing tends not to look so healthy in the weeks, or even months, leading up to the big event, either. Suggestions of bolstering the pre-Cheltenham period with “win it and you are in it” qualifiers for the handicaps appear to have fallen on deaf ears, as have suggestions to declare runners for the entire festival on the Sunday beforehand.

The weekend just gone was particularly threadbare over jumps in Britain, with merely the one listed race – a mares novices’ hurdle at Doncaster won by The Organist with a timefigure of 127 – and no graded events.

There was one standout performance, however, and that came from The Last Samuri in the BetBright Grimthorpe Handicap Chase later on that Doncaster card. As trials for the Grand National at Aintree go, they do not come much better than this one.

The winner tracked the pace before going on three out and then forged clear to beat The Druids Nephew by 10 lengths, stopping the clock in a time equivalent to a timefigure of 159, which sneaks him into the top 20 for chasers in Britain and Ireland this term.

Sectionals show that the Grimthorpe, run on soft going, was a demanding test, and even The Last Samuri himself was slowing by the end.

But he stuck to his task better than any of his rivals, which augurs well for the extra mile or so at Aintree. On the clock, he is the one to beat there and a double-figure price is worth taking.

Those sectionals suggest that The Druids Nephew might get closer to The Last Samuri at Aintree – there was little more than a length in it jumping two out before the former capitulated – but not that he will finish ahead of that rival.

Then again, even the newer version of the great race is not quite like any other.