The jumps season is officially in full flow after scintillating John Durkan Chase A bright crisp winter's afternoon watching sport is always one of life's great joys and for those that made it to Punchestown on Sunday they were served up a real treat. The finish to the John Durkan Chase was one of the best I've seen. Two high class chasers at full gallop, stride for stride over those final two fences with no quarter given is as good as it gets. When you consider that Fastorslow, 29 lengths behind Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File on Sunday, actually ran the race one second quicker than when he was victorious in the 2023 renewal, puts into perspective the level of performance we witnessed. Time will tell whether or not those early season exertions of the first two horses will impact on the rest of their campaigns, but it certainly whets the appetite for what is to come in a season that is already bubbling up nicely and promises so much. Gold Cup champion largely unchanged in betting markets One remarkable aspect to the John Durkan Chase is the lack of movement we have seen in Inothewayurthinkin's ante post price for the Gold Cup. The reigning champion was a general 7/2 chance to retain his crown in March before Sunday's race, but despite trailing home 53 lengths behind the front pair his odds have barely changed at all, with a few bookmakers nudging him out half a point to 4/1. It was no secret that he was really only having a run out in the John Durkan and was never going to be competitive racing over a distance so far short of his optimum. A Gold Cup winner, approaching his prime, going off 18/1 for his very next race tells you all you need to know about his chances on Sunday. Article highlights: The John Durkan Chase delivered an exceptional finish between two top chasers Fastorslow ran the race one second quicker than his winning time in 2023 Despite finishing well behind, Gold Cup champion Inothewayurthinkin saw minimal change in his betting odds The distance of 2 miles, 3 furlongs may be too short for many of the competitors With that in mind, I wonder if the John Durkan would be an even better race if it was run over an extra couple of furlongs. 2 miles, 3 furlongs and 150 yards was on the sharp side for almost all of the horses that were declared for the race on Sunday and a slightly longer distance could only add to the spectacle and might even encourage some of the other runners take more of a part. Fairyhouse fixture battles frosty conditions Changing the subject, when I woke up on Friday to a wintry scene with a thick layer of grass frost I was fully expecting the early morning inspection of the course at Fairyhouse to result in the rearranged fixture being called off again. The temperature had dropped to minus 3 degrees overnight and it was still that temperature when the planned track inspection took place at 7.30am. To my surprise Clerk Of The Course Brendan Sheridan decided to delay his decision and look again at 10am with the expectation that the temperature would rise sufficiently to thaw the track. A rather bold decision considering it meant, with a 12 noon start to proceedings, that almost all of the 76 horses declared to race and their connections would be on the road by the time he checked the track again. When he did check the course at 10am he found the hurdles track was now fit to race, but the chase course "was not quite there yet" and he was going to continue to monitor the situation as the first two races were over hurdles, which gave an extra hour for the chase course to thaw. In the end his decisions were all spot-on. The seven races went ahead as scheduled and there wasn't a single non-runner on the day. Sheridan and the IHRB deserve a lot of credit for not only calling the situation correctly at each stage and not taking the easy way out by cancelling the meeting at 7.30am, but also for keeping everyone in the loop with detailed bulletins explaining each decision. Brendan Sheridan and his colleagues would have come in for a lot of flack had the thaw not arrived, but not nearly as much as might have been the case in the old days when we were often left in the dark as to what was going on.
