The Cheltenham Festival opened under overcast skies and on ground that lacked its usual lush grass cover due to the unhelpful weather of the preceding weeks. The jockeys generally agreed with the initial going description of good, although a few thought it to be on the dead side and it was later changed to good to soft to cover all six races.

This did not look a vintage Supreme Novices' Hurdle on paper and the lack of a really strong early pace did not help many of the field, while it also made it hard to come from off the pace. However, one of the horses it certainly did not help, NOLAND, overcame all that to produce a remarkable winning performance in a renewal in which the Brits filled the first three places.

Although beaten on his hurdling debut, Noland has since blossomed into a top-flight hurdler who, having already won the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown in January, has now won both Britain's two-mile Grade 1 novice hurdles. That said, for much of this contest he appeared to have no chance of succeeding. Shortly after the fourth flight the horse was being niggled along, while he became badly outpaced down the hill, losing his place and losing it still more when not fluent three out.

On levelling up and jumping the last he still seemed to have an impossible task, but he then unleashed an astonishing surge up the hill which, combined with the effects of a tremendous Ruby Walsh ride, got him home in front on the line. The most imposing horse in the field, he is every inch a chaser, and chasing is what he will do next season when the Arkle Trophy will be the long-term target.

Longer term however, he should stay beyond two miles and, given his physique and talent, his future looks extremely rosy indeed.

Straw Bear, who as a Flat-bred would be a more obvious type for this race than Noland, has to go down as an unfortunate loser. On ground that may have been quicker than ideal, he raced to the fore throughout and seemed to have grabbed a winning lead on the run to the final flight. However, he was slowly away from the obstacle, losing bags of momentum in the process, and, although, he moved back through the gears, his efforts turned out to be in vain. A fiercer gallop would have helped him but he covered himself in glory and marked himself down as a force for the top two-mile hurdles next season.

Sublimity did ever so well to get fourth given that he was hampered by the loose Pablo du Charmil on the turn down the hill. That made his life much harder but he still came quickly back on the bridle and proceeded to run a huge race. Not surprisingly for a miler on the Flat, he possesses tons of speed, but he stays well enough too, and has a big race in him.

Sweet Wake was a shade disappointing, but only really in light of the hype that had been built up around him, partly by connections themselves. He didn't do anything wrong, but when he came off the bridle for the first time over hurdles he failed to find as much as might have been anticipated. The ‘second coming' he is not, but he's a high-class hurdler who will very likely continue to excel when able to exploit his pace.

Natal, a stablemate of the winner, was tightened for room at a vital stage and also fluffed the last, but he ran a corker nonetheless. He, too, is an exciting recruit for fences.

Jazz Messenger was badly hampered at the third and did not enjoy the best passage thereafter. He is better than he showed here, but Whispered Promise ran right up to his best, and showed his excellent Tolworth run to be anything but a fluke.

Rasharrow and O'Muircheartaigh - about whom recent vibes have been wholly negative - both ran below the level one would have hoped for given that they had every chance to shine.

Another who had every chance was Quatre Heures, indeed he seemed a likely winner approaching the home turn, but he ran out of puff extremely quickly.

Crow Wood, Masafi, Nikola and Orcadian all raced prominently before weakening. Crow Wood will be better on a flat, speed-favouring track, while Orcadian faced a stiff task here on just his second jumps outing. [LM]

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