Image © Healy Racing
Fact To File proved himself against the big boys to land what his trainer Willie Mullins described as the best John Durkan Chase that he has ever seen.
Fact To File proved himself against the big boys to land what his trainer Willie Mullins described as the best John Durkan Chase that he has ever seen.
A debut five-year-old geldings’ maiden winner at Bellharbour for Donnchadh Doyle, the €40,000 Arqana purchase by the Monbeg team had taken all before him in the staying novice chase division last season, having joined the Mullins team following his initial success.
Stepping into open company, the seven-year-old was sent off as a 7/2 shot under Mark Walsh and having led at the last in a field which included the winners of 19 Grade 1 races, he held off the staying-on Spillane’s Tower to give owner JP McManus a one-two.
“I was really taken with him by what he did between the last and the winning post,” Mullins said.
“I thought he was beaten by Spillane’s Tower, I could see Spillane’s Tower turning for home and I thought he had a good card to play and when he played it after the last, I thought we were beaten second or third but Fact To File just put down his head.
“Mark said he took a blow after the last and once he got his second wind, he put down his head and beat off Spillane’s Tower – a tremendous performance.
“He is just a horse that I fell in love with the first time that I saw him, he has size and scope, he was over 17hh and yet he is so well in proportion and touch wood, him being sound, he does everything right. He is a proper horse.”
The victory ensures that ex-Irish Pointers have won both of the Grade 1 chases run on Irish soil this season, following the victory of Envoi Allen at Down Royal earlier in the month, and it concluded a day which also saw The Big Westerner impress on her rules debut.
Lining-up in a maiden hurdle packed full of potentially smart individuals, the five-year-old had been acquired for £120,000 after a very impressive Ballycahane debut for Mathew Flynn O’Connor, and she indicated that could be a shrewd purchase by beating the boys to triumph by a length.
Fact To File (7-2) edges out Spillane's Tower in a thrilling finish to the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase for jockey Mark Walsh, trainer Willie Mullins and owner JP McManus. pic.twitter.com/OBywUu3oEE
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 24, 2024
