IT proved difficult to tally chase times at Leopardstown with hurdle ones over the four days. On the whole, the average speeds of the former were considerably faster than the latter, which is the opposite of what would usually occur.

Whether that was down to differences in the going on the two courses (i.e. that it was much quicker on the chase than the hurdle track) or issues with race distances, or a bit of both, is unclear, but obstacle-to-obstacle sectionals again help to shed a lot of light on how times were arrived at.