The Kopeck De Mee conundrum: what previous handicap debutants from France reveal about his Cheltenham chances

I was absolutely fascinated by the talk about Kopeck De Mee’s handicap mark last week - a remarkable amount given very few had heard of the horse until his name appeared among the Cheltenham entries only a couple of weeks ago.

The way his price for various handicap hurdles at the meeting plummeted before the weights were even released suggests plenty of people had already worked out that he was likely to be very well handicapped.

An explanation for that emerged when the BHA’s hurdling handicapper Michael Harris revealed just how limited he was when when it came to allotting Kopeck De Mee’s mark, having to stick to a rigid conversion rate on his French mark and deviating only in exceptional circumstances, in total contrast to the way he is able to reassess Irish runners.