THE honour of staging the first Grade 1 race of the National Hunt season in Ireland and Britain falls to Down Royal in a fortnight’s time. The JNWine.com Champion Chase was instituted in 1999 and was the brainchild of Jim Nicholson, who is chairman of the racecourse, and the course’s general manager Mike Todd.

As their baby heads to a coming of age in a few years from now, they can look proudly at how it has developed into a ‘must win’ contest. A look at the list of previous winners reveals that greats such as Kauto Star and Florida Pearl, Beef Or Salmon, The Listener, Looks Like Trouble and Don Cossack have all graced the winners’ enclosure.