IN an inversion of the old proverb, March came in like a lamb and left like a lion, both in terms of the weather – which was dry and pleasant at the very beginning of the month but gave us Storm Katie and a number of cancellations just before its end – and in terms of the racing.

There was not much going on in the racing world in the fortnight prior to Cheltenham but plenty in the final week of March when Easter falls as early as it did this year. The Irish Grand National Meeting at Fairyhouse, the Dubai World Cup Meeting at Meydan and the All-Weather Championships Finals Day at Lingfield all vied for attention.

The 10-day gap between the concluding events of Cheltenham and the Boylesports Irish Grand National itself was easily the shortest since 2008 (which was also 10 days) and must have adversely affected some of the supporting events but seemingly not the main one itself.

27 useful handicappers lined up, but most of them got only a rear view of Rogue Angel, who made nearly all and somehow managed to pull out more to deny Bless The Wings by a short head.

The sectional from three out of 42.1s confirms that the principals were running on empty by the end.

The race was, nonetheless, run in a good overall time for quite testing conditions and earns the winner a 146 timefigure, which is a bit better than the recent average. The days when it was won by the likes of Desert Orchid, not to mention Arkle himself, are now distant.

LESS CELEBRATED FUTURE

Arkle won the Powers Gold Cup in his youth, but this year’s winner – when the race was run for the first time as the Ryanair Gold Cup Novice Chase – will presumably have a less celebrated future.

That said, Kylemore Lough has now won five in a row, with this length success over Outlander worth a figure of 151.

That is nowhere near a Douvan level (164) but still sneaks him into the top 10 of novice chasers of the campaign.

Kerry Lee, responsible for Kylemore Lough, completed a notable big-race double on Tuesday with Top Gamble in the Normans Grove Chase. This form is a rung below that of the Champion Chase at Cheltenham won by Sprinter Sacre, but only one rung.

Top Gamble gets a provisional timefigure of 163 for this effort.

Other graded winners over Fairyhouse’s three days did not scale quite the same heights, but Sutton Place (Rathbarry Glenview Studs Novice Hurdle) and Value At Risk (Keelings Irish Strawberry Hurdle) earned figures of 139 and 138 respectively, while Fine Rightly did even better with a 147 in the Imperial Call Chase over at Cork.