The second race on the card here on Friday felt like a painful summary of the entire 2023-24 campaign from British jump racing’s point of view. Five declared runners, four from Irish stables and the only home-trained entry was the outsider of the field.
But if Path D’Ouroux’s ultimately hard-fought success was the 10th for Gavin Cromwell’s County Meath yard here in little more than a year, there was considerably more promise from a British perspective as Dan Skelton’s Valgrand turned the feature event, the Grade Two Sky Bet Novice Hurdle, into a procession from the home turn.
