NOT for the first time this season Brain Power (124+) served notice of just how much ability he retains, as the soon-to-be-turning-12-year-old transformed what on paper looked to be a very competitive open at Tattersalls into a one-horse contest.

Interestingly, Nicky Henderson had aborted a chasing career with the Kalanisi gelding after he had failed to complete in three of his five novice chases in the 2017/18 campaign, but his fencing has now grown to become a real asset for him, as he easily dismantled the challenge of two very decent benchmarks in Er Dancer and Hardline by 16 lengths.

The Tattersalls card had opened with a 14-runner four-year-old mares’ maiden that looked to contain an encouraging level of strength, with four of the runners bringing placed form from their latest starts.

That added depth to the victory of Working Away (86+) in what was a strongly run race with few hiding places.

The gallop took its toll with four of the runners already pulling-up with five fences still to jump and with the race time a full 10 seconds quicker than the geldings equivalent in their age group, she looks to be a definite blacktype prospect.

Battling style

That geldings’ maiden was won in battling style by Law Of Supply (92+) mirroring the similarly tough and game performance that his stablemate Ask Anything (91+) had achieved 24 hours earlier in Loughbrickland.

David Christie provided further evidence as to the strength within the new additions to his winners-grade team as Ferns Lock (96++) was more than a class above his rivals.

He dominated from the front in a performance that mirrored the victory of stablemate Ultimate Optimist a week earlier.

As emphatic as that victory was, it could not match the 40-length winning margin that Grain De Folie (88++) achieved in the older geldings’ maiden and he is one to note stepping into a winner-of-one.

At Kinsale, Mylesfromwicklow (90+) proved eight lengths too strong for a pair of previously placed horses to give further credit to his winning debut, while Marv Michael (91+) may only have got his head to the front late, but he did so a shade snugly.