Timeform report: William Hill Hurdle

A top weight rated 7 lb higher than last year's was indicative of a better-quality renewal than in its final running as the 'Betfair' in 2023, though the days of Grade-1 bound hurdlers taking this in en route to Cheltenham seem something of a relic now and it was an unexposed one at the very opposite end of the handicap in an admittedly familiar set of silks in this race who proved too well treated for a field much closer to their ceiling or in some cases already maxed out; Mirabad sprinted into a clear lead not long after the second, ensuring a strong gallop that ensured no tactics seemed favoured.

JOYEUSE (FR) made a mockery of a mark lower than any winner of this famous race since Wingman held off another top weight (this yard's Champion Hurdler Punjabi) in 2008, building up with each run back in a campaign of patience and expressing herself far more fully in a strongly-run, big-field affair back at 2m than in the tactical affairs she'd tackled towards the end of 2024, providing his owner with a fourth 'Betfair' this century alone and his trainer - peerless in the 2m division in both disciplines - a sixth since Sharpical had started the ball rolling in 1998; the negative of that selective approach is she still hasn't run the requisite 5 times to qualify for one of the big Cheltenham handicap hurdles, though connections may have pretensions beyond that in time in any case and it would be folly to assume she can't live up to such from how she did this, travelling and jumping with great fluency and still on the bridle as she moved upsides after 3 out in a scene reminiscent of the same connections' My Tent Or Yours, the response when asked to settle it from the last nearly as striking as how she'd gone about the task until then as she recorded - and would have done so even had Secret Squirrel stood up - the biggest winning margin in this hotly-contested handicap in a decade.

LUMP SUM (FR) not only put a rare off-colour display in the Christmas Hurdle behind him but ran a stormer back in a handicap from a mark 10 lb higher than when he'd landed the Welsh Champion first time back, time likely to show he had a Herculean task attempting to concede a stone and a half to a winner just starting her rise; held up, good progress 3 out, in contention from next, chased leader last, left behind by winner.

NAVAJO INDY hit the frame in an even better-quality handicap but the visuals were just the same as they'd been at Windsor, first-time cheekpieces having no obvious impact kept to 2m when he's clearly crying out for a return to further; in rear, struggled with brisk pace, behind still 3 out, finished well to run into unlilkely placing.