THERE is no knowing how good Tout Est Permis could be. Noel Meade’s horse put up a really good performance in winning the Horse & Jockey Hotel Chase at Thurles on Sunday, given that the ground was probably faster than ideal for him, and that the distance was almost certainly shorter than ideal. And he made a bad mistake at the penultimate fence in the back straight, from which he and Sean Flanagan did well to recover.

The Gigginstown House horse only beat Sub Lieutenant by a short head in the end, but there is substance to the performance. Sub Lieutenant is a high-class performer on his day, and he appears to be at his best at Thurles. In three previous runs at the track, Henry de Bromhead’s horse had won a bumper, he had won the Grade 2 Michael Purcell Novice Hurdle, and he had run that year’s Gold Cup winner Sizing John to two and a half lengths in the 2017 renewal of Sunday’s race. The pair of them finished clear of Total Recall – who admittedly would have been closer had he not made a bad mistake at the last – and the winning time was good.