3.40 3m. 2f. 70yds. 18 Declared. St. James's Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters' Chase (Class 2 ) of £33,750.00 5-y-o plus
1st - €21,114.00 2nd - €6,237.00 3rd - €3,118.00 4th - €1,559.00 5th - €790.00 6th - €398.00
FormscanBy Tom Weekes - IT CAME TO PASS beat Billaway by 10L to win last year's renewal and can confirm that form and win again. IT CAME TO PASS's season has been geared totally around a repeat win here and while he was out of TV shot when blundering his rider out of the saddle at Thurles last month, he was still traveling well at the time, suggesting he has plenty of his old spark and a return to a sounder surface today will bring about the best in him. Billaway is a high class hunter who has won his last two starts and comes here in proven form. He is sure to run another solid race but might struggle to turn form with IT CAME TO PASS. Ex-French Bob And Co comes here following three consecutive hunter chase wins and while he looks likely to make an impact at this higher level, he is free-going and does makes mistakes which wouldn't help in this company. Staker Wallace was fourth in this race last year and while he has 18L to find with the selection on that form, could get involved for the placings while stablemate Stand Up And Fight beat Billaway at Fairyhouse in November but was beaten by that rival subsequently and might struggle here. Red Indian easily won his last two British point-to-points but faces much stiffer opposition here. %0A