Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mambonumberfive - €450,000 purchase can justify lofty price tag for red-hot Ben Pauling

Read the thoughts of Maddy Playle every week in the Racing Post Weekender. The Weekender is out every Wednesday and is available in all good newsagents, or you can subscribe here.

It's funny how sometimes you pick up on things other people don’t.

Most of the chat at Kempton on Saturday was about Rubaud and Tripoli Flyer, and while both put in excellent performances, I was arguably most taken with the winner of the other Grade 2, the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle.

I was familiar with Mambonumberfive as he had been entered several times at Cheltenham, including when running there on Trials day last month when pulled up behind East India Dock, but he surprised me with both his performance and his physique on Saturday.

He didn’t give his obstacles much respect early on but soon warmed to the task and when he came into the home straight for the final time he looked a totally different proposition. He travelled strongly and negotiated the last few hurdles with aplomb.

I love it when a horse shows improvement throughout a race because it shows they are learning from their mistakes.

It is easy to get sucked into horses who travel too strongly or jump poorly because you’re already factoring in how they can benefit once they improve, but that isn’t always a given. You could see it happening in front of your eyes with Mambonumberfive.

Admittedly it is hard to get overexcited about the form of the Adonis, or about the fact Ben Pauling saw fit to remove Mambonumberfive from the Triumph Hurdle recently (he is still in the Fred Winter), but I think the runner-up St Pancras is an honest, improving type and the 5-6 favourite Mondo Man didn’t do much wrong in third.

Ben Pauling and Ben Jones: duo in fine formCredit: Mark Cranham

Like that horse, Mambonumberfive cost a pretty penny as he was picked up for €450,000, so it was great to see him leave that first effort in Britain behind.

I am confident he can continue to justify that price tag because you wouldn’t think he was made for juvenile hurdles by looking at him.

A tall, strong son of Born To Sea, he blew me away in the winner’s enclosure and will surely be more comfortable in time, over bigger obstacles and perhaps over longer distances too. That said, he was cut to 14-1 for the Fred Winter at the Cheltenham Festival on the back of this and it is easy to see him running very well there, unless he skips the festival altogether.

Ben Pauling and Ben Jones will surely be full of confidence because they have been operating at extraordinary strike-rates of 48 per cent in the last fortnight.

I had my head down in the press room after the feature Ladbrokes Trophy, but they added two other wins with Bad and Our Boy Stan to complete a treble on the day.

The pair have had a remarkable season combining quantity and quality, and the fact their two Grade 1 wins have come in novice chases bodes well for the future.

Like Jamie Snowden, who was praised in these pages recently, Pauling is a trainer whose investment is paying off.

Ireland, and specifically Willie Mullins, continue to dominate at the top of the jumps tree, but there are a host of burgeoning trainers in Britain and hopefully they can continue to get the support and results to compete with him in the coming years.

The injury to The Jukebox Man and the fact Handstands is likely to skip Cheltenham for Aintree mean Pauling’s team for the festival lacks a standout star next month, but Henry’s Friend and Pic Roc won’t be without chances in the Ultima and National Hunt Chase respectively. Pauling won the latter with Le Breuil in 2019 before it was turned into a handicap this year.

Hong Kong stars deliver

As a regular visitor to Hong Kong, I was hoping the city’s pride and joy Romantic Warrior could add to his extraordinary CV and win Saturday’s Saudi Cup.

While he didn’t quite manage it and had to yield to the late challenge of Forever Young, his connections must be feeling immensely proud.

Romantic Warrior continues to adapt to whatever is thrown at him, whether it be dirt, turf, over a mile or a mile and a quarter at home, in Japan, Australia or the Middle East.

Forever Young and Romantic Warrior pull clear in the Saudi CupCredit: Grossick Racing Photography (racngpost.com/photos)

The future is looking bright for Hong Kong horses at the moment as just a day later Ka Ying Rising took the step up to seven furlongs in his stride when winning the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.

It was a tenth successive win and third Group 1 for the sprinting sensation. He has some way to go to match Romantic Warrior’s heroics, but it’s hard to see anything beating him at the moment.

Read these next:

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'Frightening' Constitution Hill impresses in pre-Cheltenham Festival gallop at Kempton 

Kopeck De Mee shortens further for Martin Pipe as BHA handicapper admits he is restricted as to what mark he can give him 

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