GALWAY saw the reappearance of two top National Hunt flat horses in maiden hurdles and they are nicely representative of Irish jumps racing in 2018: one owned by Gigginstown and trained by Gordon Elliott (Felix Desjy), the other a Willie Mullins horse (Royal Rendezvous). Neither posted a particularly fast overall time, but there was enough in the sectionals to suggest that better is expected. Felix Desjy quickened clear with eye-catching closing numbers whilst Royal Rendezvous’s race was stronger run, with predictably slower closing numbers, but he showed enough to think he too will end up graded class. You couldn’t award either race a rating beyond 125, even when sectionals are factored in, they will certainly be better than that number in time.