Andy Gibson's Eyecatchers: Brewin'upastorm, Solo and half a dozen others to watch

It was interesting to hear his trainer concur with the view offered comparing him with Pic D'Orhy, which is the kind of hype that could easily result in Solo being overestimated on another day.

Pic D'Orhy won this race when rated 154 in 2022 and had to run to that sort of level to succeed. In this 2023 version Solo won whilst rated 141 and did not have to do a lot more than that on official ratings to prevail.

More importantly, in my view, he won this whilst enjoying a significant advantage over his rivals, and I have compared Solo from his first fence with Flegmatik from his third.

At the fourth last fence Solo was around 30 lengths in arrears despite the Skelton horse competing over three miles. At the line Solo had made up around 20 lengths of that deficit which adds plenty of substance to the supposition that Solo was allowed to jog round until quickening up the pace from after the third last fence.

Previously he had not always seemed the most resilient in a finish and I would not be giving up on that still being the case despite this success.

After all, the advantages he held here resulted in him not having to battle as much as he otherwise might.

Given how positive a trip round the all-the-way winner Solo enjoyed, I would suggest that the runner-up, Datsalrightgino, has done tremendously well to close Solo down at the winning post.

He jumped left and hit three out before jumping left again two out, and he was then not quite as fluent as the winner at the last before reducing his deficit by a couple of lengths on the short run in.

Despite the more positive trip of the winner, I suspect that this runner-up would have gone very close if jumping the third and second last with more fluency. His form has been nicely disguised of late and he could well be a fair bit in front of the handicapper.

Last time out he could well have beaten Stage Star at Cheltenham if jumping the final two fences well.

Prior to that he had been campaigned over two miles and acquitted himself well, albeit in a manner that suggested an extra half-mile would be a help.

Of course, the downside with him is that his jumping has not been a positive in each of his latest three visits to the racetrack and there is no guarantee of him improving in that department next time.

That said, he is versatile with regards to the ground and if he puts in a clean round he will be a threat in any top-class handicap chase run over an intermediate trip.

The performance of Bobhopeornohope in the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase was the second clear pointer of the day to a possible resurgence in the form of the Kim Bailey yard.

If he is left alone by the handicapper we should see him again in the 0-140 handicap chase round Ludlow at the end of March - the one where he was beaten narrowly last season.

If the object of this exercise was to get Enrilo round and finish the race then it was a case of job done. He was in the leading group turning for home, albeit under pressure and seemingly beaten, but that said, this clean round does offer his connections something to build on before presumably heading for the Bet365 Gold Cup in April.

I suspect Mullenbeg has performed much better than the outcome of the Dovecote Novices' Hurdle would suggest.

She made up plenty of ground at the point where the eventual winner began to quicken up the pace, and the fact that she almost wore him down whilst putting significant daylight between herself and the rest is massively to her credit.

Being held up in last place was arguably a real disadvantage the way this race developed, and consequently, I will view her as being ahead of the handicapper until she shows something to the contrary.

She bombed last time out at Cheltenham after being backed down to 9/4 favourite.

After over-racing in the early stages of the Dovecote, Hansard was keener still when Harry Cobden slowed the pace down when racing along the far side. He was strongly fancied coming into the race which might be worth remembering, and we should see more from him when he learns to settle better than he did here.

His last-time-out success against Master Chewy reads well and offers plenty of hope that he will prove better than this fifth-placed finish would suggest.

After making many mistakes, some of them serious, and after not travelling well for much of the Vertem Eider handicap Chase, Kitty's Light eventually flew home in the home straight to win with something in hand.

The ground looked rough, which would not have suited him, and he could not have jumped much worse if he had tried, so he has probably got an awful lot in hand of the handicapper.

He will be raised around six pounds for this success and it will not be his new rating that will be the variable to get him beaten next time out.

Last season he came third in the Bet365 Gold Cup whilst competing off 145 and he was only just beaten in the 2021 renewal off a mark of 139.

In April 2023 he will be competing off around 138 and will have every chance of being competitive.

I know this was the second National Spirit success in a row for Brewin'upastorm, nevertheless I do think there was plenty of 'by default' attached to this success which was earned on his first start since undergoing wind surgery.

The runner-up does not stay and the third horse to finish was probably feeling the effects of having run very recently, while Goshen jumped violently right, and the Skelton horse was never in the hunt.

All in all, this victory will read better than it was, although in the horses' favour was the way he renewed his progress after hitting the final hurdle very hard and losing balance as a result.

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