THINGS are looking good for Irish-trained novice hurdlers at this stage, with the top five all home-based. Mengli Khan would have had to win the Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown on December 27th by a decent margin to justify his place jointly at the top, and that seems debatable, but he was at least leading when ducking out at the second last.

With Sharjah (142 timefigure) and Real Steel (141) falling independently at the last, it was left to Whiskey Sour to prevail with a sub-standard 134 figure.