Giving one man carte blanche over National ratings is plain wrong

In a week that has apparently seen the primacy of Irish steeplechasers reinforced both on the track and on the page, it's difficult to reconcile a few angles.

For starters, according to the BHA's handicapping supreme leader Phil Smith, the Lexus Chase was a race of exceptional quality. Really?

After the Lexus form was on Sunday represented in honest fashion by the reliable old plodder Don Poli, Smith allotted his Lexus conqueror Outlander top weight for the Grand National.

As noted at the time, a rating of 166 implies that Outlander – a nine-year-old who has won once outside of novice company – is a horse of rare calibre. Be it a solo run by Smith or more benign ratings inflation, that is nonsense.

Grand National talking points

In beating 'Don Slowly', Outlander has earned an Aintree mark superior to those that Gold Cup winners Synchronised, Imperial Commander and Lord Windermere ran off in the National.

Likewise, National heroes Many Clouds, Hedgehunter and Don’t Push It were never asked to run off such an inflated rating. No wonder Gordon Elliott promptly ruled Outlander out.