THURLES racecourse was in the spotlight like never before last Saturday, with over half a million people watching on terrestrial television in Britain alone. They were treated to an entertaining mix of quality conditions events and competitive handicaps, with the Grade 3 Pierce Molony Memorial Novice Chase the centrepiece.

That race went to Zero Ten, who looked a worthy winner for all that his margin of victory was accentuated by the late departures of Sizing Pottsie and Cut The Mustard. I have a 140 figure on the winner, which suggests that Cut The Mustard would have run to something in the mid-130s and that Sizing Pottsie (conceded weight all round) might have been in the mid-140s.