YOU could have made a case for at least six of the seven runners in Sunday’s intriguing Bar One Racing Drinmore Chase and you could have still made a case for all six as they faced up to the second last fence. Four Gigginstown House horses and two J.P. McManus horses, three Gordon Elliott horses against Noel Meade, Mouse Morris, Tony Martin and Eddie Harty. It was a fascinating contest, and it is a race from which the winner usually progresses to be one of the top staying novice chasers in the land.

That could be the case again this year, because Coney Island was an impressive winner. The Eddie Harty-trained gelding jumped well, he travelled well into the home straight on the far side for Mark Walsh – the rider’s third winner of the weekend – and he came away nicely from Anibale Fly, who in turn came away from the rest of the field to complete a one-two for McManus.