Just A Par wins Newbury Grade 2 Just A Par opened his account over fences with an ultimately facile success in the RSA Worcester Novices' Chase at Newbury this afternoon. Runner-up behind At Fishers Cross in a Grade One novice hurdle at Aintree in the spring, the Paul Nicholls-trained Just A Par was beaten into second by Shotgun Paddy when odds-on for his chasing debut at Chepstow in late October. Sent off the 5/4 favourite to go one place better in this Grade Two contest, the six-year-old disputed the running from the start under Daryl Jacob but was briefly headed by Ardkilly Witness exiting the back straight. He was soon back on terms, however, and there were virtually four in line jumping the first fence in the home straight. Third Intention emerged as the only serious threat to Just A Par between the final two fences, but was eventually shaken off, with the market-leader coming home 14 lengths clear, as Nicholls continued his domination of this event. Paddy Power cut the winner from 20/1 to 14/1 for the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March. Nicholls said: "He's still as green as grass and you'd hope in a year's time he might be back here for the Hennessy. "He did get beaten at Chepstow, but he had a clear round and got that in the bank. "I don't think he's a Feltham horse, I could see him coming back here on Aon Chase day, and you'd definitely be thinking about the RSA because he was bought to be a nice staying chaser - next year's Hennessy is already half in my mind."
