Punters still cautious about Shishkin as last year's flop lingers long in the memory

The Saturday just gone should perhaps be packaged as Ryanair Trials Day since we know that theme days and clarity of presentation can be helpful to our audience. The feature chases on both sides of the Irish Sea were run at intermediate distances and both winners are to be aimed at a showpiece contest on the festival's third day; Ryanair have had so many recent mentions that the value of sponsoring at Cheltenham has been thoroughly underlined.

There's no question as to which winner was more impressive, of course. Shishkin finished a taxing race with real conviction and inevitably became a short-priced favourite for the Ryanair. The winning margin of 16 lengths was the second biggest of his career.

Bits of 11-8 remain, possibly because the thought of his festival flop last year lingers in the collective memory. If it had been Allaho winning the race like that, he'd be 4-6 wouldn't he?