PRINCE OF TARA STILL VERY WELL HANDICAPPED

Valuable handicaps are invariably won by lightly-raced, unexposed sorts. And this season's Troytown Chase was no exception. It was taken by PRINCE OF TARA (39) who was having only his third outing over fences.

Prince Of Tara ran a bit quicker than Trabolgan did in the Hennessy. But I guarantee Trabolgan would be long odds on to beat the Stephen Mahon inmate if they met in the near future.

A couple of years ago Mahon said that he felt Prince Of Tara might well develop into a Gold Cup horse in time. The clock suggests that prediction may not quite be born out but that it wasn't far off. As I see it Prince Of Tara is a very smart three mile chaser on soft ground. And he's still seriously under-rated by both the official handicapper and the betting public.

CLEAR RIPOSTE IS A USEFUL JUVENILE

CLEAR RIPOSTE (35) ran a good time when winning unextended on her hurdling debut. My interpretation of her time suggests she would still have won even if there hadn't been an unfortunate pile-up at the first which put paid to five of her rivals. In fact she ran fast enough to be competitive in Graded contests for juvenile hurdlers.

WAR OF ATTRITION CAN RUN FASTER

When I analyzed the form of last week's Clonmel Oil Chase I soon began fantasizing about landing a monstrous Computer Straight Forecast. I felt sure the short-priced second favourite RATHGAR BEAU (40) was sure to run below form and that STRONG PROJECT (40), a small field specialist, had a great chance of beating him for second.

Strong Project would have won all four of his previous chase starts at less than 2m 6f in fields of five or less but for one neck defeat, and he was giving me every hope when still bang there at the last this time. Sadly he tipped up. Now I'm probably going to have to wait awhile for him to be found another race with such a small field at a short enough distance.

The reason I was so keen on opposing Rathgar Beau is that I was sure he wouldn't be fully fit. True Rathgar Beau did win a bumper on his racecourse debut. But all the runners are unfit in most bumpers so that was no great feat. Since then he had run below form all six times he'd come into a race off a break longer than a month since his last completed start. According to my ratings Rathgar Beau again ran below form here. And I'd bet on him improving now that he's got a run under his belt.

In the circumstances you could say WAR OF ATTRITION (40) didn't achieve that much. Nonetheless he still ran fast enough to earn a decent speed rating from me. And he could almost certainly have gone a bit faster, seeing that he ended up winning narrowly but comfortably.

War Of Attrition is clearly an exceptional talent. I awarded him one of the biggest speed ratings I've given a chaser in recent years for his defeat of Kicking King last time out. My concern with him now stems from a survey I carried out a couple of years ago to find out the percentage of fallers at chase tracks in Britain and Ireland. This showed that nowadays there is a dramatic difference between fences in Britain and Ireland. British fences have been made steadily softer and easier to jump over the years - partly no doubt due to pressure from the animal rights lobby. As a result I suspect that many Irish chasers now find it difficult adapting to the easier British fences after jumping Irish ones - just as chasers often have difficulty adapting back to hurdles. They usually lose their first couple of starts back over the smaller jumps through over jumping or 'ballooning' the hurdles.

I can't get away from the fact that War of Attrition is now unbeaten in five starts over fences in Ireland but has lost by 14 and 16 lengths the two times he's gone chasing in Britain. Maybe he'll prove more adaptable as he gains experience. But for now I have to say I'd prefer to be betting War Of Attrition in Ireland rather than Britain.

LAETITIA COULD BE ANYTHING

It's hard to assign an accurate speed rating to a rae when it's much the fastest on the card and the contestants are all lightly raced, unexposed sorts. This was the case with the Listed novice hurdle won by LAETITIA (37) at Cork.

Laetitia might well be a fair bit better than I've been able to rate her. She clearly stays well and looks a tough horse to beat on the right-handed tracks her trainer says she favours.

Runner-up MOSSBANK (37) had won his two previous starts over timber and, like the winner, could be anything. He's certainly fast enough to be worth following.

HAS MOSCOW FLYER 'GONE'

When an ageing horse loses for the first time as Moscow Flyer (38) did in the Kerrygold Champion Chase last term it's usually a sign of deterioration. When they lose again, as he did to CENTRAL HOUSE (40) at Navan last Sunday, the deterioration is confirmed.

You can, if you wish, make excuses for Moscow Flyer and remember how brilliantly he has performed before. But the fact is he is about to enter his eighth year of racing and he is now at an age when most horses start to decline. Reluctant as I am to say it, I must put forward the idea that Moscow Flyer is not the horse he was and should be opposed in his future starts.

Take nothing away from Central House. He's a very decent two mile chaser. But I don't see him as a Champion Chase prospect because he never seems to hold his form after February. Central House also always appears to need his first run of the season and dislike tight tracks. Toss out his seasonal debuts, and his tight track runs and you'll find that Central House's form in two mile chases is very impressive before March. In fact, if he hadn't bumped into Moscow Flyer's conqueror Rathgar Beau and Kicking King a few times he would have won nine times out of ten in what I see as his ideal combination of circumstances.

I think we can excuse third placed HI CLOY (37) his slightly sub-par run. He has now run below form all six times he's run on a stiff track like Navan. I'd bet on him bouncing back to form on an easier track next time.

LISCOONEY IS IMPROVING

I confess that I don't yet have a theory about LISCOONEY (38). He's too lightly raced for me to be sure of his preferences. All I can say is that his speed ratings show a pronounced upward trend and that he earned a solid Grade 3 figure when taking a warm looking hurdle at Fairyhouse the other day.

I can see Liscooney taking a decent novice event or more likely a valuable staying handicap hurdle at some point this season. Runner-up YARRA MAGUIRE (37) also looks worth following. He'd won his previous two starts by pretty big margins and looked set to score again till the closing stages. It could be he will come on for the run (his first in six months). I'd certainly be surprised if he doesn't win again soon.

AFISTFULLOFDOLLARS IS A SMART NOVICE CHASER

AFISTFULLOFDOLLARS (38) earned a very good speed rating for a novice chaser when bolting up on his fencing debut at Down Royal.

Afistfullofdollars has now on four of the five times he's run further than two miles and is clearly held in high regard by his connections. Indeed trainer Noel Meade was already talking about the Sun Alliance Chase after his win and the clock says that is by no means being overly optimistic.

SUGARHONEYBABY CAN WIN A GROUP RACE

Seven furlongs is a real specialist distance. If a horse has reached the age of four or more it's a bad bet to expect it to win over the trip in pattern company unless it has done so before - or at least gone very close. The results of seven furlong pattern races in Ireland won by older horses prove the point. 25 of the last 28 such races were won by horses that had scored over seven furlongs before. The three that weren't were taken by horses that had run second over seven furlongs beaten by half a length or less. SUGARHONEYBABY (39) continued the trend when winning a red hot renewal of the Listed Knockaire Stakes at Leopardstown. She had won twice before over seven furlongs and finished just a length behind the very smart Hard Rock City in another race over the trip. She is more than capable of winning a Group race on this run.

This time HARD ROCK CITY (39) lost to Sugarhoneybaby, suffering his first defeat in four tries over what seems to be his specialist distance. He's actually run a bit faster in the past and ranks as one of the best horses in Ireland on my speed ratings.

Over the last decade British raiders have won half the Irish pattern sprints for older runners that they have contested. If Sugarhoneybaby and Hard Rock City stay in training they could both do a little damage to that statistic next term.

ARTEEA'S RUN BETTER THAN IT LOOKS

ARTEEA (38) beat only one other finisher when taking the Grade 3 Ballybrit Novice Chase at Galway last Sunday. But the clock says it was nonetheless a very decent performance for a novice chaser. He set a good pace and kept on strongly to score by a wide margin.

Arteea had finished third on his chasing debut in a red hot contest run in very fast time behind grade 1 winners Watson Lake and Accordion Etoile. His win confirms just how strong that race was and makes me look forward even more to the next run of Accordion Etoile over fences. That one is looking a better and better prospect for the Arkle with each passing day. Arteea himself should prove worth following too.