Impaire Et Passe

Impaire Et Passe was very good in winning the Manifesto Chase at Aintree last Thursday. Settled back in the field early on by Paul Townend and towards the outside, his jumping was good, and he moved up nicely on the outside as they reached the end of the back straight to take closer order behind the leaders. Still widest of all around the home turn, he moved into third place after the third last and, long at the second last, he landed over that obstacle in second place. He moved easily past the leader Gidleigh Park on the long run across the Grand National track to the final fence, jumped that well and kept on well up the run-in to win nicely.

The figures back up the visual impression too. He was faster than all his rivals through the final four furlongs of the race and, according to RaceIQ, his final half-mile time of 54.94secs was the fastest recorded by any chaser at this year's Aintree Grand National meeting. It seems like Willie Mullins' horse has been around for ages, but he is still only seven, and this was just his fourth run over fences. He was a classy hurdler, he won the Baring Bingham Hurdle at Cheltenham and the Grade 1 Alanna Homes Hurdle over two and a half miles at the Punchestown Festival as a novice, and he won the Aintree Hurdle last year, showing a lot of grit to get home by a nose and a short head from Bob Olinger and Langer Dan. This intermediate trip looks like a good trip for him, and he could morph into a Ryanair Chase horse next season.

Aintree, 3^rd April 2025