Fact to File prevails over Spillane's Tower in pulsating John Durkan chase at Punchestown
Fact To File, ridden by Mark Walsh, jumps the final fence alongside third-placed, Galopin Des Champs ridden by Paul Townend, before winning the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Steeplechase. Picture: ©INPHO/Peter Mooney
Top-class races seldom deliver what they promise on paper, particularly at this early stage of the winter season, but the Grade One John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase, the feature on Sunday afternoon in Punchestown, delivered in spades as two of the leading novices from last season, Fact To File and Spillane’s Tower, led home some more established stars.
Both horses sported the silks of leading owner JP McManus, and it was the Willie Mullins-trained and Mark Walsh-ridden Fact To File, winner of last season’s Brown Advisory Novice Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, who came out on top following a pulsating finish to the race.
