Par for the course for Nicholls

Paul Nicholls has won the RSA Worcester Novices’ Chase at Newbury with a few reasonable staying types and Just A Par looked another from the same mould.

Michel Le Bon and Aiteen Thirtythree had provided the Grade Two honours for Ditcheat in the previous five years but looking further back, the likes of Cornish Rebel, Valley Henry and See More Indians achieved even better things further down the line.

Runner-up behind At Fishers Cross in a Grade One novice hurdle at Aintree in the spring, Just A Par was beaten into second by Shotgun Paddy when odds-on for his chasing debut at Chepstow in late October but made amends in encouraging fashion.