1st - €59,000.00 2nd - €20,000.00 3rd - €10,000.00 4th - €5,000.00 5th - €3,000.00 6th - €2,000.00 Overcast

Formscan By Alan Magee - A high class renewal of this Grade 1 with an illustrious roll of honour and, while Fakir d’Oudairies has taken really well to fences, I just prefer to rely on LAURINA The Willie Mullins-trained mare was not far off the best over hurdles but has always looked the type to do even better over fences and certainly didn’t disappoint when reappearing over 2m4f at Gowran Park last month. She put in a fine round of jumping and perhaps not surprisingly had too many gears at the business end for fellow Cheltenham Festival winner Minella Indo. Her jumping will be put under more pressure here with Fakir d’Oudairies, who has jumped like a cat in winning both chase starts this term, likely to press on from a fair bit out. Notebook has done nothing wrong in also winning both chase starts including the Grade 2 Craddockstown Novice at Punchestown, while the selection’s stablemate Royal Rendezvous and Grade 3 winner Djingle are certainly no back numbers.

A novice steeplechase for four years old and upwards