WITH the National Hunt season finally nudging the summer game aside last weekend, the first clues as to who will dominate the staying chase division were meant to be unearthed with the running on Saturday of both the JNwine.com Champion Chase and the Charlie Hall Chase on either side of the Irish Sea.

Ma Filleule was talked of as a prospective star having chased home Holywell at the Cheltenham Festival before winning the Topham Trophy over the National fences, but she proved easy to back in the Down Royal feature and trailed home well beaten. The run may have been needed but the crux of the matter for me is that there is a strong tendency to overrate the form of listed and Grade 3 handicaps, when by their nature they are much weaker than the championship races which they support.