Welcome to the second part of my Christmas series of columns, which spans the four days of action from Boxing Day until last Friday and takes in the seasoned hurdlers and mares, both of the hurdling and chasing variety, who competed during that period. 

My first post-Christmas column, , addresses the established chasers from the same time-span. My next column, back in its usual slot of Wednesday evening, will address the novice chasers, novice hurdlers and juvenile hurdlers from that period plus everything else that’s happened from Saturday until New Year’s Day.  

The full Road To Cheltenham show with Ruby Walsh then returns in its customary slot at 9pm on Thursday. And then I plan to lie down in a darkened room for some time. But until then… 

The next generation in this division has fallen short. Predictably in Rubaud’s case, as even his trainer Paul Nicholls was explicitly aiming for second against

Constitution Hill

in Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle, but disappointingly in terms of Impaire Et Passe, who failed to lay a glove on stablemate

State Man

when they met in Leopardstown’s Matheson Hurdle. 

Most disconcertingly for fans (like me) of last term’s authoritative Ballymore winner, Willie Mullins explicitly admitted he cannot ever envisage a scenario in which the younger horse is able to get past last Friday’s winner. Asked that specific question by Gary O’Brien on Racing TV, their trainer paused before answering.

“No,” he finally said. “I think even if State Man goes out in trip, Impaire Et Passe would still struggle. State Man can go three miles if he wants but he’s good enough over two [miles]. So, it’s going to be tough for Impaire Et Passe.” 

Now, of course, even the Head of the Closutton Order can be wrong (gasp). He said he thought of winning the Savills as did Galopin Des Champs, for goodness’ sake. But that’s a dispiritingly definitive position from the person who decides which horses race where. 

Don’t get me wrong – I was expecting State Man to beat Impaire Et Passe last Friday, but I was hoping the vanquished would show enough to be confidently persisting down a Unibet Champion Hurdle path. Instead, Mullins stated his next stop is a discussion with owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede about what they’d like to do – although he also threw out another thought that’s discussed in the section below… 

Due to Mullins’ two supposed big guns unexpectedly clashing – the Relkeel on New Year’s Day at Cheltenham having previously been mooted – the owners’ retained rider Daryl Jacob was on board the runner-up for the first time, with stable jockey Paul Townend understandably sticking with his favourite horse. 

Fils D’Oudairies, the sole non-Mullins-trained runner of the quartet, scuttled off in front, garnering a lead of about seven lengths by the first flight. Mullins admitted this had worried him, watching from the stands, but Townend was unruffled. When the leader landed back-feet-first at the second and started to jump out increasingly to his right, any such concerns were allayed. The hare was almost fully reeled in by the third last.

Impaire Et Passe, ridden for cover on this occasion after surprising Townend by pulling hard on his seasonal debut in the Hatton’s Grace, raced on the inner of smart mare Echoes In Rain, both of them chasing State Man. 

The runner-up had made an uncharacteristic mistake at the fourth when dragging his hind legs through it, but he would make a more pivotal error at the second last whilst State Man aced it, just as the race was hotting up.  

That meant Impaire Et Passe was slightly on the back foot as State Man quickened into the lead but, unlike the mare, he was able to hang in there approaching the final flight. But again, the titleholder winged it and landed running. Although the runner-up didn’t shirk from a losing battle, he could never quite muster a significant challenge. 

This is how their trainer saw it: “Paul quickened twice going to the last and Daryl still stuck with him but… he said to me State Man quickened a third time and he had no answer to that. I loved the way State Man galloped the whole way to the line. To me, that’s improvement – he’s improved from last year.”

Even if you agree with Mullins that State Man is an improved performer – and the figures don’t yet confirm this – the question is, of course, whether he’s progressed enough to worry Constitution Hill. You’ll recall that Townend believes his mount was not at his best, for whatever reason, when they previously met in last term’s Unibet Champion Hurdle but Mullins – the necessary difference between trainer and jockey mentality, perhaps? – wasn’t carried away by that idea when O’Brien raised it. 

“He’s in the top two in the British Isles, isn’t he?” Mullins joked. “We’ve got a lot of ground to make up and, looking at Constitution Hill, he looks like he’s improved as well, so we’ve more ground again to make up.” 

To back up Mullins’ thoughts about the horse in the top one in the British Isles, ITV’s Adele Mulrennan asserted that the champion had “filled out since last year” when reporting from Kempton’s paddock prior to the Christmas Hurdle. The race itself certainly confirmed he was in no lesser shape than previously for his belated reappearance, trainer Nicky Henderson having opted to skip the reschedule Fighting Fifth. 

Yet Constitution Hill didn’t need to produce anything like his best to dispatch Rubaud by nine-and-a-half lengths. Indeed, so readily did he breeze past at the second last that Harry Cobden didn’t see the point of trying to respond on the horse on whom he’d set a slow pace and attempted to outsprint his chief rival. Instead, he wisely waited to ensure he could see off what challenge there was from his more patiently ridden rivals, headed by the winner’s stablemate First Street. 

For those who like to put a figure on things, it’s true that Constitution Hill’s career-best performance is rather dusty now. Not since he faced a rival of the calibre of Jonbon plus kamikaze front-runner Dysart Dynamo in the 2022 Supreme has the champion had the necessary set-up to express that much of his ability. Whether that’s the best he can do – and the manner of that success suggested not – we still don’t know. 

Last season’s Champion Hurdle came close, via him pulling nine lengths clear of State Man, and it’s a tantalising prospect if he and his main rival have indeed matured further. They dominate the ante-post market, at 4/11 and 4/1 respectively, with Impaire Et Passe next in at 14/1 in a place, and 20/1 bar. 

Their routes to their March clash are obvious – Constitution Hill via the repositioned Grade Two Bula Hurdle (International in new money) on Trials Day at Cheltenham and State Man via attempting to retain the crown he wrested from Honeysuckle in the Irish Champion Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival in February. 

Given Constitution Hill was at his least impressive – comparative term – when stretching out to two-and-a-half miles at Aintree last season, hopefully the mountain will go to Muhammed for a further re-match in Punchestown’s Champion Hurdle. That two-mile Grade One was won by State Man last April by three lengths from stablemate Vauban, himself entered over Christmas but not seen competitively since disappointing in the Melbourne Cup. 

From the vaunting ambitions of Gold Cups, both of the Cheltenham and Ascot variety, mentioned in the heady aftermath of their last encounter, The Hill’s winning owner Michael Buckley now has his sights merely set on long-term hurdling domination. In all realism, that appears attainable. 

But to conclude this segment, it is only right to salute Sceau Royal, who was retired just days before his twelfth birthday by Munir and Souede after finishing last of five in the Christmas Hurdle. .

A remarkably versatile, durable and sound horse, not to mention a consistently high-class performer, Sceau Royal has been a much-loved part of the fabric of Jump racing for nine straight seasons. He won the Grade One Henry VIII Novices’ Chase back in 2017 and subsequently lifted Grade Twos over both codes – the 2020 Elite Hurdle and 2021 Game Spirit. 

Quite how Alan King’s team will manage without him around the place, I do not know. But manage they and we must, all of us buoyed by the knowledge that he heads happily to horizons new. 

It’s not impossible Impaire Et Passe could wind up in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, is it? In fact, might it be a shade of likely given the finality with which Willie Mullins spoke of State Man’s superiority over two miles. He also doesn’t have anything else for the race and dropped out in interview with Gary O’Brien that the horse has “a pedigree that he can go up to three miles”. 

Impaire Et Passe is the first foal of a twice-raced maiden in France, whose half-sister stayed just shy of two-and-a-half miles, but he’s also by Diamond Boy, who’s produced King George runner-up L’Homme Pressé. He’s already stayed 2m5f to win the Ballymore, albeit that race typically majored on pace rather than stamina, and bar for his seasonal debut, he is usually pretty tractable. 

Maybe it’s a good option, but it’s so different to what I had thought about him that I can’t warm to the notion at this stage. 

Following Irish Point’s success in Leopardstown’s Jack de Bromhead Christmas Hurdle, Gordon Elliott and Brian Acheson’s Robcour now have two leading candidates for Cheltenham glory in the stayers’ event. Of course, the trainer could yet have three of a kind because he’s also responsible for titleholder Sire Du Berlais, who’s rising 12 and yet to be sighted this season.

Although Irish Point did not comprehensively prove his stamina for three miles due to the stop-start – glacial then more glacial – pace set by Home By The Lee, he did everything asked of him. 

He settled for Jack Kennedy, despite being accustomed to going faster over shorter. He also jumped really well, readily covering runner-up Asterion Forlonge’s forward move at the second last and smoothly leading on the bridle approaching the final flight, where he nodded on landing but drew right away. He’s clearly a substantial new player in a division that had been in need of young talent. If you knew he was headed to Cheltenham, 6/1 or 7/1 would be more than fair. 

But there was talk afterwards about splitting up this Elliott pair, with Hatton’s Grace hero Teahupoo looking to go two better than when to some degree unlucky in last year’s Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle and Irish Point perhaps being saved for the Aintree Hurdle over 2m4f. “Jack said to me there that all I have to do now is make sure to split them up!” their trainer joked. 

Yet there’s also Robcour’s Bob Olinger to consider – he runs in Cheltenham’s Relkeel Hurdle over the intermediate trip on New Year’s Day and has not convinced as a thorough stayer. In fact, even though he won the Lismullen Hurdle last time out, he still hasn’t convinced me as the full shilling these days. That finish was an after-you-no-no-after-you defer-off to the line with fellow yielder Zanahiyr. 

At Leopardstown, Asterion Forlonge jumped very well and travelled strongly but was swatted aside by the winner. It was a creditably enough effort, though, given his best form at both disciplines is on right-handed tracks. The Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran’s January meeting is an obvious next target. 

He outstayed Ballyadam, who was trying three miles for the first time. He has trodden water over fences and jumped with typical scrappiness on this reversion to hurdles. Beacon One also made mistakes but rallied in the straight to secure fourth without ever getting involved in the meat of this contest.  

Home By The Lee was utterly apathetic in front and, short of hypnosis – or the more orthodox option of headgear – there was nothing JJ Slevin could have done about it. His opponents were hardly going to lend a hand by moving upsides or taking over in front until the latter stages, so he was left to slave over a hot saddle alone. Despite his application, his mount hit the brakes at almost every hurdle. Trainer Joseph O’Brien is bound to stage an intervention when we next see this quirky operator. 

Buddy One – an improved dual handicap winner prior to being thumped in the Hatton’s Grace last time out – jumped scratchily, looked legless in the straight and was reported by rider Jack Gilligan to have lost his action and hence was pulled up. Jack’s father, trainer Paul Gilligan, later informed the stewards the horse had also “scoped wrong” post-race. Scrub this effort from his record, albeit he also fell short of this grade at his previous attempt. 

Britain staged its staying Grade One on the Saturday before Christmas with Ascot’s Long Walk Hurdle and what happened was, in the words of winning jockey Jonathan Burke to ITV’s Oli Bell, “how the race should have finished: an old star like

Paisley Park

and a very young potential up-and-coming stayer in

Crambo

”. Fresher legs prevailed, but only by a short head.

Like the Leopardstown equivalent, this race was conducted at a crawl with the entire field still in contention entering the straight. Both Fergal O’Brien and Emma Lavelle, trainers of the first and second, remarked that they had never known their respective charges to travel so well. The clock tells you why. However, the pair still managed to draw six lengths clear of pace-setting

Dashel Drasher

after challenging either side of him at the last. 

Both principals produced a clear round – unusually for the older horse, who has always tended to lack fluency at the exact moment when it’s been most required. Yet here the 11-year-old pinged the last and engaged doughtily in toe-to-toe battle with a horse five years his junior, ears waggling, and only gave best near the line. It made me hoarse with frustration and pleasure. 

“I’m proud and heartbroken in equal measure,” Lavelle said, encapsulating the moment for everyone who’d witnessed Paisley Park’s second successive narrow defeat. “At Newbury, we were there and thinking: ‘Please don’t let the line come’ because we were staying on so well. And here, I was watching and thinking: ‘Please let the line come!’ But all credit to the winner – he’s got younger legs and he kept on battling. 

“But to turn up year in, year out and run the races that he runs, and the desire to go and win… I always said at the start of this year: he owes us nothing, he’s been such a star but he’ll tell us when he’s had enough. And I watched that today and I think he hasn’t had enough yet!” 

But this may have been the moment that the baton, as far as British stayers are concerned, was passed to the next generation. It was Crambo’s first attempt in open Grade One company, having been asked too late for his effort in a Haydock handicap on his previous start. He’d been unfortunate also to meet trouble in a melée at the third last, losing all chance, in Aintree’s 2m4f Grade One Mersey Novices’ Hurdle last April behind none other than Irish Point. 

For Ascot, O’Brien had made the tough, much-analysed decision to swap Crambo’s formative partner Connor Brace for an experienced Grade One jockey in Burke – and, to the trainer’s credit, whenever questioned he never once shirked from fronting up about having made that call himself. What would have happened otherwise, we will never know but this was O’Brien’s second success at the highest level, further enhancing his operation’s upwardly mobile trajectory. 

Crambo is unexposed at three miles and, although this contest placed greater emphasis on speed, stamina is plainly his metier. O’Brien doesn’t think he needs further experience prior to the Stayers’ Hurdle – for which he now trades between 6/1 and 10/1 – but didn’t definitively count it out. 

Lavelle, on the other hand, earmarked Cheltenham’s Cleeve Hurdle at the end of January as the next stop for – a race he first won in 2019 and would be seeking to land for a fourth time, having just come up a short-head shy of the same haul of Long Walks. 

A slow pace compromised him behind French raider Gold Tweet in last season’s Cleeve. This time, he could face an officially far superior Gallic threat in Thélème, who’s currently duking it out as Festival favourite with Teahupoo and Irish Point. 

His trainer Arnaud Chaille-Chaille has reportedly made contradictory statements about whether he plans to gain some pre-Festival track practice, but my French correspondent Alan Potts tells me the horse is listed as back in full training by France Galop. 

Back in third, Dashel Drasher was meeting Paisley Park on 6lb worse terms than his Newbury triumph; he tended to adjust left at his hurdles and was a shade below his best. 

Champ – the other veteran of this party – was making a slightly belated seasonal debut after a second bout of wind surgery. He boasts an excellent record when fresh but was unsuited by the steady pace, finding it hard to hold his position when the sprint began. He also fluffed the second last, not that he was really getting involved at the time. 

The four-year-old Blueking D’Oroux ran creditably enough, prominently positioned but occasionally going out to his left – including when in a share of the lead at the second last. He had nothing left on landing, trying five furlongs further than ever before, and was passed by Champ on the grind from the last. 

Botox Has might have finished closer but for flattening the penultimate flight, but the mare West Balboa was disappointing. She was chafing to go faster, however, and may have found the transition from strongly run handicaps something of a culture shock. She ought to be given another hearing in graded company. 

As a footnote, having discussed Kempton’s farcical King George parade in my previous column, it appeared from TV pictures that Ascot had made more of an effort prior to the Long Walk. However, the note of surprise in ITV anchor Ed Chamberlin’s voice on seeing at least eight of the ten-strong field parade in front of the stands was telling for a spectator sport. 

“Oh, this is good,” he exclaimed. Yes, but it would have been better – and fairer – had all horses taken part whereas it appeared (admittedly judging by ITV’s coverage, so I cannot be definite) that Champ and Red Risk did not join in. 

It would also have been better had the parade been permitted on the Flat course, closer to the paying audience, rather than some distance away on the Jumps track. I can’t imagine that the sum total of about 20 horses walking on Ascot’s straight track prior to its three National Hunt Grade Ones would cause any palpable damage to their Flat turf and it would make a great deal of difference to those who were there – especially as an effort was made to head down towards the Silver Ring. 

Finally, is it possible that Gavin Cromwell reverts to hurdling with dual Stayers’ hero Flooring Porter after his defeat in the Neville Hotels Novice Chase – a race that will be discussed in detail in my next column? 

It might be a shade early to judge, but it doesn’t look likely this characterful horse will scale the same heights over fences, which seem quite an effort for him. Yet even his hurdling form last season wasn’t as smart as previously and, as discussed above, time has ticked on. 

Echoes In Rain has contested the last two editions of the Close Brothers David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle, finishing fifth when hampered at the second last in 2022 and fourth when unsuited by the steady pace in probably the deepest edition yet last March. 

To underline her ill-fortune in the latter edition, when her run style caused her to be compromised more than many, she won Punchestown’s Mares’ Champion Hurdle next time out with a career-best defeat of Anna Bunina by nine-and-a-half lengths. The likes of Shewearsitwell, now-retired Epatante, Brandy Love and Love Envoi were in her wake. It was the kind of polished success she’d been threatening to put together for some time. 

Since then, she was tried in the Ascot Gold Cup – eat your heart out, Constitution Hill – and ran pretty much to her best, finishing a creditable eighth. Although she fell short of her 2022 showing in the Irish Cesarewitch in September, she did bag second in the Group Three Loughbrown Stakes. 

Both Jumps starts this season – second in the Morgiana and third in the Matheson, open Grade One hurdles behind State Man – suggest she retains plenty of ability and enthusiasm for the remaining season. Although she’s been on the go for a long time without respite, the same was true for the previous two seasons. 

The Mares’ Hurdle ante-post market is, of course, an embarrassment of Mullinses, headed by the Triumph Hurdle 1-2, Lossiemouth and Gala Marceau. The former, Ruby Walsh has confirmed during this Road To Cheltenham series, is in full training but being campaigned to the Quevega paradigm of least seen, soonest mended. The latter was last seen in May when winning a Grade One juvenile event in Auteuil that her trainer had previously secured with Footpad and Diakali. 

Third in the betting is Ashroe Diamond, a respectable 13-length third behind Teahupoo (and Impaire Et Passe) in the Hatton’s Grace and a Grade One novices’ event winner at Fairyhouse last April after skipping the Cheltenham Festival. Fourth in is last year’s advantageously ridden runner-up Love Envoi, who ran disconcertingly oddly in the rescheduled Fighting Fifth. 

On Friday, the novice Jetara continued her progress by completing a hat-trick of successes within five weeks against largely more experienced mares in Leopardstown’s Grade Three mares’ hurdle – and at the same time puncturing the vaulting ambitions of recent Fairyhouse winner Risk Belle. It was a race denuded of two key players in likely favourite Magical Zoe and Anna Bunina; it was also missing the home-straight hurdle due to the low trajectory of the sun.

Jetara received an astute ride from Jack Kennedy, who manoeuvred her into a relatively prominent slot after the second flight and, after overcoming a less-than-fluent jump at the previous obstacle, grabbed pole position at the de facto final flight. 

By contrast Risk Belle was checked on landing by the weakening front-runner, meaning both she and more patiently ridden Pink In The Park needed hastily to recover ground on the home turn. Jetara made the most of her advantage, however, drawing further clear around the bypassed final hurdle in the straight. 

Whilst Risk Belle found only the one pace, appearing unsuited by this half-mile step up in trip, the runner-up discovered a career-best performance out of the blue. It may not be form to take literally, however. Behind, Telmesomethinggirl jumped hesitantly, rusty after switching from an abortive spell over fences, Saylaveeregressed from her previous start and French import Hispanic Moon failed to reproduce the form of her Irish debut success at Punchestown for Henry de Bromhead. 

Unless she feels Jetara is particularly suited to the longer trip, Jessica Harrington will surely be more likely to head for the novices’ event, the Dawn Run, if she targets the Cheltenham Festival – an event in which the mare finished a distant eleventh last season despite having previously split Ashroe Diamond and talented Halka Du Tabert at Fairyhouse in January. 

All this gives the front of the Mares’ Hurdle market something of a theoretical feel. I feel inclined to take a swing at it. Now, admittedly, the horse I’m about to recommend is currently said to be aiming at the Stayers’ Hurdle but you’ll be getting a price for your speculation. 

The mare in question is mercurial Marie’s Rock, the 2022 winner of this race but who declined to settle in a crawl when attempting to defend her title. After getting frothy beforehand, she also ran flatly in Newbury’s Long Distance Hurdle on her seasonal debut. 

Although her connections insist they’ll stick to three miles for this campaign, that division is starting to look deeper than it did when they were last asked with Irish Point joining Teahupoo as a leading chance for Gordon Elliott and Crambo stepping up at Ascot. Throw in Thélème and the mares’ event suddenly looks a lot more gettable. Furthermore, we shouldn’t forget that she got beaten by dependable geriatric Sire Du Berlaison her first attempt at three miles at Liverpool last April – and he wasn’t getting any younger even then. 

Marie’s Rock defends her title over 2m4f in Cheltenham’s Grade Two Relkeel Hurdle on New Year’s Day and she might well win again. You always risk her having an off-day but her best form is vastly superior to anything her potential opponents in the mares’ event have yet mustered in their careers. Surely her connections will be tempted to recalibrate? Let’s get in first with 33/1 (or 25/1, if necessary) here.

Admittedly, trainer Nicky Henderson already has Luccia as a potential dart at the Mares’ Hurdle, with stablemate Under Control having flopped at Newbury last month. 

Luccia’s recent handicap success at Ascot put to bed concerns about how much she finds in a fight – sparked by how hung at Wetherby and found little in the Greatwood earlier this season – even if she would surely have finished second had fellow Seven Barrows inmate Impose Toi jumped the final two hurdles cleanly. However, she would need to improve again quite a bit to get involved here – and prove her stamina for an extra half-mile to boot. 

Irish raider Limerick Lace threw her hat into the ring for top honours with a comprehensive thumping of Britain’s best mares in the Yorkshire Silver Vase last Friday. Not a high bar, admittedly, and exacerbated by two of the better ones underperforming at Doncaster, but the manner of her victory suggested she’d have won whatever. 

The second-last fence was her sternest opposition, as she walked through it when clear. Rider Jonjo O’Neill insisted that she concentrated into the final obstacle and, with a jump to the left and a step to the right, she cleared it cleanly. In fact, she could have afforded the full Time Warp routine before galloping away for a ten-length victory from 50/1 outsider La Renommée. 

[] 

Gavin Cromwell’s mare had been steadily progressive over fences last season, finishing second to Journey With Me in a Naas Grade Three open novice in March prior to flopping at Fairyhouse on her final start when perhaps over the top. She arrived here following a career-best second in Navan’s competitive Troytown Handicap last time. 

Here, she made ready progress from the rear to mid-division approaching the fifth, but was short of room when Zambella jumped right at the ninth. Travelling well entering the straight, she moved to the front three out. She has flashed her tail under pressure and been accused of finding little off the bridle, but there was no rival with the ability to examine any such perceived frailties here. 

Of course, she’ll need to improve further to trouble Dinoblue – whose recent Grade One win was analysed in my previous column but who must prove her stamina for 2m4f – not to mention last season’s Mrs Paddy Power Liberthine Mares’ Chase 1-2, Impervious (if back from injury in time) and November Clonmel winner Allegorie De Vassy. However, she’s on the right trajectory. 

La Renommée is an improved model this season and whilst she surely needed some key rivals to underwhelm in order to bag this black type, it’s a deserved reward for her work. It was surely Aintree’s incredibly heavy ground that saw her pulled up behind Zambella last time. 

I’m a fan of third-placed Carole’s Pass, whose Exeter chase debut and who is definitely poised to win in handicap company, at this trip or perhaps over further. She did well to get involved here, after being squeezed out at the fifth last, and to rally for third after blundering through the final fence. Keep her on side. 

Fourth-placed Pink Legend, placed in the last two editions of the Liberthine, was always at the fore whereas the winner steadily made her way to join her during the course of the race and the two placed mares were patiently ridden out the back. Her finishing position was compromised when she plunged through four out and hung right after the last. She’s been busy this month. 

Both last season’s Topham runner-up Fantastic Lady and Zambella, bidding to win this Listed event for the third time on the bounce, ran poorly prior to being pulled up. 

The former jumped well early, made a mistake at the sixth and tamely lost her position five out. The latter ran lifelessly, in trouble and running down her fences as soon as the seventh. I don’t buy that she sulked for being unable to lead – she’s been taken on or tracked the pace when running well before – but those attritional conditions 20 days earlier at Aintree might have taken a toll. 

Walk In Clover tanked to the front and typically refused to settle, meaning she was done with soon after being headed at the eleventh. She appeared out of her depth in any case. 

A marked step up in trip – and in heavy ground to boot – prompted a reversal in fortunes last Wednesday between joint favourites Hauturière and Harmonya Maker in Limerick’s Grade Two novice mares’ event over an extended 2m6f. Previously the latter, jumping errantly, had finished second to Silent Approach over two miles at Cork with the former three lengths adrift in fourth. 

Here, under a positive ride from Sam Ewing, Harmonya Maker largely jumped better than last time but started to get tired on the downhill run from three out. Conversely, having only taken closer order on the final circuit, that was exactly where Hauturière started to get a roll on. 

Although jumping out of such sapping ground looked an effort over the final two fences, the winner managed it cleanly and provided jockey Adrian Heskin with his first graded success since relocating back to Ireland. 

Sainte Dona was third-best on merit but she plugged on past the weakening Harmonya Maker for second. Subsequent to getting in too close to the first, her jumping was an asset and she can definitely win a race when her sights are lowered. 

Advised 16/11/23: Envoi Allen at 16/1 for the Ryanair Chase with Paddy Power