TODAY at Wetherby I witnessed the easiest winner I’ve ever seen in the flesh. I could have won on Whispering Gallery. The horse never broke sweat. Neither did Denis O’Regan. Granted, he is one of those stylish jockeys who makes race riding look so easy. But he never moved a muscle. He didn’t have to. He would have expended more energy reaching for the remote control. A classy flat horse, Whispering Gallery was given various quotes for different races at the Cheltenham Festival afterwards.

Today’s form looks nothing special although Bobowen is a reliable yardstick but Whispering Gallery could still be an interesting player at Cheltenham and is another strong contender for trainer John Ferguson. Better ground and a proper gallop will suit him even more. My only reservation was that his jumping wasn’t always fluent, but it was only his second race over hurdles and hopefully that will improve.

Whispering Gallery shook up the betting market for the Cheltenham Festival. BetVictor quoted him at 33/1 (from 50s) for the Supreme and 20/1 from 40s for the Neptune. He is also in the Albert Bartlett and the World Hurdle although the Neptune would seem the most suitable race.

The fourth, Minella Fifty, is worth putting in the notebook. He cost owner Gay Smith £150,000 after winning a maiden point in Ireland and he stayed on nicely into fourth today after travelling kindly. Elsewhere, on what was a chilly but beautiful day, the other striking performance came from Diamond King who scooted clear to win the bumper. I’m not sure if he beat much but he could not have been more impressive. He could be one for the Aintree bumper.

A sad postscript to the day was the death of Shinrock Hill, who fell fatally in the novice chase. Condolences to his connections. Thankfully Young Hurricane, who took a sickening looking fall in the same race, was unscathed.