TRIALS day at Cheltenham last Saturday arguably had the lot: some major performances with the festival in March in mind, plenty of competitive racing otherwise, winners, losers, delight and despair. It was jumps racing at its best and, in one respect, at its worst.

The BetBright Trial Cotswold Chase was almost Shakespearean in its enactment.

A nuanced event beforehand, with several subplots and a cast of heroes, some of whom could plausibly turn into villains. The race itself had a number of different acts, along with twists, turns, excitement and disappointment, though it was only after the event that it became clear this play had been a tragedy and not just a history.

From the point of view of post-race analysis, it is important to note the role that a few elements played in events. Overnight rain made the ground more testing than had been anticipated, the movement of rails added nearly a furlong to the advertised race distance (something which British racing should be more up front about and which Irish racing would do well to replicate), and the pace was unrelenting.

Many Clouds and Thistlecrack went clear of the earlier pacesetter Smad Place going to two out, and Thistlecrack looked the likelier winner (went long odds-on in running), only for Many Clouds to rally and deny him on the line with an effort which took a sickening toll when he collapsed and died soon after.

The scenario led to a decent time, but some slow closing sectionals. The first two may have drawn clear, but they lost several lengths on par in the last half-mile. It was a thrilling spectacle late on but fairly slow-motion stuff when looked at impartially.

PERSONAL BEST

Whether or not Thistlecrack simply met an even stouter stayer, as appeared to be the case, he ran a personal best over larger obstacles on the clock, with a timefigure (which has been adjusted slightly for those closing sectionals) of 165 compared to Many Clouds’ 166.

That places Thistlecrack top of this season’s outstanding bunch of novice chasers but still eight behind the Betfair Chase version of Cue Card (173) and six behind an upwardly mobile Bristol De Mai (171).

Thistlecrack still looks too short at around 2/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but he is arguably a more plausible winner of that race now than he was on Saturday morning. If run over the advertised distance (which it was last year), the Cheltenham Gold Cup will be over just 42 yards further and quite possibly on less testing ground.

With this further experience under his belt, Thistlecrack is more likely to go forwards than backwards. But he will need to.