FOR the time being the staying hurdlers’ crown seems to be up for grabs following More Of That’s disappointing effort in the Grade 2 bet365 Long Distance Hurdle.

Jonjo O’Neill’s World Hurdle winner, who drifted ominously from 4/9 to 4/7 before the off, became very tired in the ground and could finish only third behind Alan King’s 8/1 chance Medinas and Cole Harden.

Anyone taking O’Neill’s recent record into account - a very quiet spell after a raft of winners - might have looked closely at the recent Wetherby race in which Cole Harden beat Medinas on very different ground.

He was 8lb better in this time, and with Richard Johnson picking up a rare ride for King in the continuing absence of Choc Thornton and Wayne Hutchinson, Medinas closed on his two main rivals at the ninth but rather dived at the last before picking up again and pulling clear to beat his old rival by seven lengths.

More Of That was all of 18 lengths away in third as A.P. McCoy allowed him to come home in his own time. King is a realist and was very pleasantly surprised by the result.

PRIZE MONEY

“We hoped we’d pick up some prize money but that’s a huge surprise,” he said. “Mind you, he does love the ground and the front two went off very hard. I suppose we’ll have to go for the Long Walk at Ascot next.” Warren Greatrex may well turn down that option with Cole Harden, preferring the three-miler at Leopardstown over Christmas because his five-year-old prefers going left-handed.

The Long Walk is likely to be next for More Of That, who wore a tongue-tie for the first time last week.

“We’ve always had a suspicion about his wind, so we put it on to help him along but it didn’t help him for far enough,” O’Neill said. “He’ll come on a lot for that.”

That can be true of quite a few of the stable’s leading lights and McCoy was not too despondent.

“It’s heavy and very hard work,” he said. “He’s a big, gross horse and I was happy enough with him.”

Despite easing in the market, More Of That was the only one to attract serious money. One wonders how much of the activity is between bookmakers, unless punters are finding it easier to get on at the track than in the high street.

With the story of one relatively shrewd backer asking for £50 on a horse with one of the biggest firms and being offered a barely credible £7.50 still fresh in the memory, the £5,000 to £10,000 on the course on Saturday might be filed under ‘interesting if true’.