Tony McFadden highlights three horses who significantly improved their Timeform rating over the Easter weekend and are worth being positive about.
Western Walk (131p from 123)
The Grade B Novice Handicap Hurdle Series Final at Fairyhouse on Saturday looked like a competitive event on paper but Western Walk proved a cut above his rivals, readily quickening seven lengths clear to enhance the excellent start he has made since joining Jonathan Sweeney.
Western Walk, a half-brother to Sweeney's flagbearer Churchstonewarrior, failed to win in three starts over hurdles for Gavin Cromwell last spring, but he showed improved form to get off the mark at the first attempt for his new yard, winning a two-and-three-quarter mile maiden hurdle at Navan five weeks ago on his return from a nine-month absence.
That was a stylish success but he took another leap forward on his handicap debut over three miles at Fairyhouse, sauntering clear of the progressive runner-up in the style of one who, given the rate of his progress, could emulate his half-brother and make up into a graded performer. Connections certainly seem to think so as he was declared for a Grade 2 at Fairyhouse on Sunday - he understandably didn't run having won 24 earlier - and he also holds an entry in the three-mile Grade 1 novice hurdle at the Punchestown Festival.
Further progress will be needed to reach that sort of level - for context, he's rated 11 lb lower than Albert Bartlett winner Stay Away Fay - but even after a 15 lb rise in the weights connections will also have handicap options en route to graded assignments.
Monbeg Park (144 from 137)
Monbeg Park may have lost the valuable Grade A Handicap Hurdle in the stewards' room - he was demoted for impeding Risk Belle on the run-in - but he showed much improved form on his first start over two miles as a hurdler, opening up plenty of options for connections.
Monbeg Park had won a heavy-ground bumper over two miles and three furlongs at Cork last season, so it's understandable that connections had considered him a staying prospect and even tried him over three miles earlier in the campaign.
However, he showed plenty of speed at Fairyhouse on Saturday, impressing with how strongly he travelled and the smooth headway that he made to hit the front in a competitive two-miler. What he produced was in the region of half a stone better than his previous efforts and, given he remains unexposed at the trip, he could yet make amends for Saturday's costly demotion. Timeform's reporter nominated him as an ideal type for the Galway Hurdle in the summer.
Mister Policeman (148p from 121p)
Mister Policeman, a winner of a juvenile hurdle on his second and final outing for David Cottin in France last year, was up against some smart rivals on his first start for Willie Mullins in a conditions hurdle at Cork on Sunday, but he brushed them aside in the style of an exciting prospect.
Stablemate Cash Back, who was arriving on the back of a creditable third in a handicap at Naas last month, again gave it a good shot from the front but had no answer to Mister Policeman who travelled strongly, moved up going well turning for home, jumped on at the second-last and then readily asserted on the run-in.
The visual impression of that two-and-a-quarter-length success was backed up by a useful timefigure and there should be much more to come from the five-year-old Mister Policeman after only one start for his new stable.
He's not technically a novice as he won a juvenile hurdle last season, but he is in terms of experience and a rating of 148p has been bettered by only eight novice hurdlers this season, so he's one to be positive about.
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