When ten lengths isn't ten lengths: how Ireland's crazy approach to beaten distances makes form study even harder

It’s approaching the time of year when we’ll have all sorts of speculation about how the British handicappers will treat the Irish horses at Cheltenham – inevitably followed by moans about how harsh they have been, just as inevitably as those same Irish horses will then win the majority of handicaps.

My sympathy for the handicapper in these instances has been greatly increased recently by a discovery I made when investigating two of the biggest races over the Christmas period, when Galopin Des Champs was said to have won the Savills Chase by 23 lengths and Nassalam landed the Welsh Grand National by 34 lengths.

To me, there appeared to be a lot more than 11 lengths between these two winning distances – and so it proved.