DESPITE all of the rain that has fallen, the ground at Cheltenham last week dried up as quickly as a Guinness glass in March, writes Page Fuller. Even the jockeys appeared to underestimate the speed of the ground underfoot. This is evident because seven of the horses that raced over the weekend now rank among the top 10 fastest final four furlongs in our database at Cheltenham.

The most eye-catching of which was They Call Me Hugo, who finished third in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle on Saturday. For the majority of the race, Sean Bowen was content to sit at the rear of the field, despite the steady early fractions. This meant that, despite not letting the front horses too far out of his sight, they were still able to get first run on him.