A SOUND beating, if not a comprehensive one. After the stream of Irish winners at Cheltenham, punters looking for British alternatives may still be licking their wounds.

One of the problems, of course, concerns the number of impenetrable, multi-runner handicaps. With the best will in the world, British form students find it hard to unravel the Irish form and even if they decide that this could be another for Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott, there are still quite a few names in the hat. Too many, really.