IN more than 17 years of being involved at Ayr Racecourse and many more of following the sport of racing rarely have I seen as easy a winner as I did at the Craigie track on January 2.

The horse I am talking about is Champagnesuperover who was never asked a question that day in the bumper and cantered to a 16 length win over Western Starlet.

There were many people besides myself that afternoon who took a note to follow this Olly Murphy trained five year-old. Jockey Adrian Heskin was motionless and apart from looking behind him to see where the opposition was on a couple of occasions had nothing to do but sit on the horse.

He won on heavy ground that day and the winner of a similar contest on the same type of going at the track four days later recorded a time four seconds slower than the Murphy horse who was never out of third gear.

Just how good is he ? Well we should find out the answer to that on Saturday when he re-appears in a Class 1 bumper at Newbury.

There’s no doubt the opposition will be a little bit classier than he encountered at Ayr although the Warren Greatrex trained runner-up that day was well backed and well thought of by connections.

All the talk after Champagnesuperover’s impressive introduction was of a possible tilt at the Cheltenham bumper but the McNeill Family and co-owners Paddy and Scott Bryceland think that the packed stands and electric atmosphere of the Festival may be too much for a young horse who is very much learning the ropes.

Their attitude is why run the risk of spoiling what looks like a fantastic prospect just for a bit of Cheltenham glory.

Saturday’s contest will be a stern enough test and if he comes out of that with another win the chances are he will be put away until next season when a novice hurdling campaign will be plotted for him.

I watched the January 2 race for the umpteenth time the other night and the more I view it the more I like what I am seeing. It was an eyecatching performance from a highly talented horse.

I think if he produces anything like that form on Saturday he will win again and I just hope his odds aren’t prohibitive.

One horse who won on the New Year Raceday at Ayr and has already come back out and obliged again is Endlessly, another Olly Murphy trained gelding.

He ran in a novice hurdle at Newcastle last week and recorded another win defeating the James Ewart trained Foxey by two and a half lengths.

Endlessly will be given a handicap mark this week by the BHA having run in three hurdle races and I think he could turn out to be a very useful animal. Olly will have the choice whether to keep him in novice company or progress to handicaps and I think he will opt for the latter.

He could well feature in a couple of decent races between now and the end of the season and he certainly is in the right hands with his in-form trainer currently sweeping all before him.