Grangeclare West denies Gerri Colombe at Fairyhouse

Class came to the fore in the BAR 1 Betting Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse with Grand National third Grangeclare West running down Gerri Colombe after the final fence.

Both have spent a large part of their career competing in Grade One races and were heavily favoured by the conditions of this Grade Three event, which has invariably been a good trial for Aintree.

Stellar Story, who was meeting the front two on distinctly worse terms than he would have done in a handicap, gave a bold sight for a while before Gerri Colombe took over.

He looked like he might have the race in the bag but as he has done on so many occasions, Paul Townend tracked what he perceived to be his main danger and despite a jolting error at the last, he stayed on powerfully to win by five and a half lengths on the 7-2 shot for Willie Mullins.

Coral cut the winner to 10-1 from 20s for Aintree, and Townend said: “He can get you out of trouble! He got away with it anyway.

“The last is so far down there that I was anxious not to challenge until we got up to where it normally is and it probably helped me not winging it and landing upsides Gerri Colombe.

“He enjoyed himself, got into a nice rhythm. I thought they went very hard and I was just in my comfort zone everywhere, popping away.

“He’s a class animal. The ground was my concern but it’s loose and he handled it as well as any of them.”

On the winner being in the mix to be his ride in the National he added: “He has to be, that headache is a bit down the line.”