WHOLESTONE has sufficient class that he’s been campaigned towards the Stayers Hurdle but his record, and sectional analysis of his performances, suggests conclusively that he’s best over the intermediate trip: I have him a 160 horse over the two-and-a-half-mile trip, and half a stone inferior to that over three miles.

He didn’t need to run to quite that level to win a solidly-run conditions event at Aintree – I rated the performance 157 – but there was enough in that performance to suggest he retains all of his considerable ability.

Of particular note was his superior tactical speed to eventual second, Vision Des Flos, who boasted a Grade 1-second over the minimum trip last year.

Wholestone doesn’t have the requisite stamina to win the Stayers Hurdle, and if I were connected with the horse, I may take a chance and drop him to two miles to see if he has the pace required to win over that trip. His jumping and travelling speed suggest to me that he wouldn’t be disgraced, anyway.

WINCANTON

Wincanton hosted the other headline meeting last Saturday. Bags Groove was a 145-hurdler, hinted on his debut that he could end up a better chaser, and confirmed that in comfortably dispatching Secret Investor from the Nicholls yard.

In a respectably, if not fiercely, run contest, he jumped well in the main and never looked to be under serious threat. A good overall time, and smart sectionals to boot, the performance compared favourably to the handicap chase won by the Bryony Frost-partnered Present Man.

There was rain throughout the card at Wincanton, which makes relative comparisons somewhat imprecise, but I’d be confident in assessing Bags Groove’s performance as 150+ regardless.

Verdana Blue (152, sex-adjusted) and If The Cap Fits (147) fought out the finish in the Elite Hurdle on the card. A strong gallop ensured that there was no hiding place and I got the distinct impression that the difference between victory and loss for the pair was race fitness (If The Cap Fits hadn’t been on a racecourse since the end of December last year).

Of the two, my instinct is that Harry Fry’s charge will be the one to follow and he’ll inevitably go close in the other big handicap hurdles this season.