ST JAMES’S PALACE

FOXHUNTER CHASE

SENT off the 11/8 favourite, On The Fringe was unable to win the Foxhunter Chase for a third successive time, Enda Bolger’s 12-year-old finishing a respectable fourth behind 16/1 shot Pacha Du Polder.

The winner, a first of the week for British champion trainer Paul Nicholls, had finished a close fifth in the race a year earlier under Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendleton. Now, with Bryony Frost in the plate, Pacha Du Polder saved ground on the inner all the way around before jumping to the front at the final fence.

Stable companion Wonderful Charm, the mount of Katie Walsh, closed the gap all the way to the line but Pacha Du Polder held on by a neck. The 100/1 chance Barel Of Laughs took third, another neck away, and it was two lengths back to On The Fringe.

The winning rider is a daughter of former jockey Jimmy Frost, who won the 1989 Champion Hurdle on Beech Road and the Grand National the same year aboard Little Polveir. His son Hadden is also a Festival-winning rider and they were among the first to congratulate Bryony after the race.

Although 23 went to post there were very few fallers. However, one of the casualties was Michael Barry’s six-year-old Sweet As A Nut, who was being attended to at the final fence.