Billaway© Photo Healy Racing
Three of the first four horses at the head of the antepost market for the Cheltenham Foxhunters do battle at Down Royal today, which stages its traditional St Stephen's Day fixture today.
The Bluegrass Horse Feeds Hunters Chase is arguably the programme highlight as the ten runners include Willie Mullins' Cheltenham Foxhunters runner-up Billaway along with other high class hunters Enda Bolger's Stand Up And Fight and Sam Curling's Aloneamongmillions
Stand Up And Fight, winner of the race in 2018, capitalised on the final fence mistake of Billaway when the pair met at Fairyhouse last month while Aloneamongmillions is undefeated in five point-to-point starts and the Tetratema at Gowran last March where he beat today's rival Some Man himself a winner of his last two point-to-points.
Billaway went off favourite for the Foxhunter at Cheltenham last March and is currently 7/1 favourite for the 2021 renewal, ahead of last year's winner It Came To Pass (12s), with today's rivals Stand Up And Fight (14/1) and Aloneamongmillions (16s) next best.
The ground currently soft, soft to heavy in places following 11mm of rain overnight, with a slight risk of some showers today.
