Samcro looking like the force of old with efficient jumping display on debut

Horses are not machines, as Samcro proved last year, but he was back to looking like one again at Down Royal on Friday with an authoritative 17-length demolition of his rivals.

With a rival vastly his inferior over hurdles in second and a 100-1 shot in third the form is hardly up to much, and bigger tests await, but what marked the performance as a return to something like the Samcro of old was how he went about it.

The most encouraging aspect was how efficiently he jumped and here it is worth contrasting his chasing debut with fellow Cheltenham Festival winner Summerville Boy. Both made encouraging starts, but Samcro looked the more natural.