Expert Analysis

In a Festival not especially short of top-class performances, Allaho’s win here arguably takes the biscuit, and certainly does in terms of time, both overall and sectionally. It was the fastest in the race since 2016 despite the ground on the New Course being “good to soft” and only a bit quicker than on the Old Course on the first two days. You have to go back to Cue Card’s nine-length win in 2013 for a comparably classy winning performance.   

ALLAHO had long threatened to make into a good horse, but a performance like this – 175 on my ratings – still came as something of a pleasant surprise. He set off at a fast pace and never stopped, soon leading, attended by Min for much of the way but slipping easily clear again after three out and staying on well, though his finishing speed of 99.9% showed that even he was feeling the earlier pace eventually. It all proved too much for the half dozen who pulled up and for the quartet who completed behind him at a respectful distance, the majority of them rated in the 160s beforehand. Front-running suits Allaho well, and so perhaps does this sort of distance even though he was not far off winning the RSA Chase at three miles last year. A line through the runner-up here (not always a sensible idea, but probably valid in this instance) places Allaho a bit ahead of Chacun Pour Soi as the best chaser of the season, though Shishkin may yet have a say in that matter. Allaho wore a tongue tie for the first time here, incidentally.

FAKIR D’OUDAIRIES has finished second five times out of six since last winning but is doing nothing wrong, encountering Chacun Pour Soi at that one’s best and Allaho in phenomenal form on his last two starts and running to around 162 on ratings both times. In this, he was less than fluent but travelled okay some way off the strong pace, improved going to two out but made no further inroads thereafter. He seems equally effective at two miles (granted a test) and two and a half and should continue to run well.

TORNADO FLYER has been a bit difficult to pin down at a variety of trips this term but confirmed that he is as good as his second to Min in the murk in the Punchestown Chase suggests (162 ratings both times) with a solid effort, held up some way back and staying on to challenge for a place late in the day. He seemed not to stay a testing three miles. 

KALASHNIKOV showed a lot of his old sparkle in a first-time tongue tie but paid for having more of a crack at the dominant winner than most, improving into second after three out and holding onto that position until weakening on the run-in. I have reinstated his 161 rating from the past but it is possible he will need a short while to recover from this gruelling experience. 

FANION D’ESTRUVAL was biting off more than he could chew and never figured. 

CHRIS’S DREAM goes well in the mud, which this ground wasn’t, but ran poorly even so, making mistakes. 

IMPERIAL AURA, who had place claims on his form in less competitive affairs, was found to be amiss after. 

MELON is classy on his day but wins infrequently and ran no sort of race, making a couple of mistakes. 

MIN ran better than the result, though not enough to be especially encouraging about given his advancing years, leading briefly and in second until weakening quickly after three out. 

MISTER FISHER ran better than the result but was let down by his jumping, back-pedaling after another mistake at the third-last. 

SAMCRO looks a shadow of the horse he once was at present, pulled up around halfway.