Willie Mullins grabs Grade One double as eight-year-old Impaire Et Impasse wins the feature on the opening day at Aintree and Il Etait Temps earlier victory
Impaire Et Passe had to survive a stewards' inquiry before claiming a narrow victory in a superb three-way finish to the William Hill Aintree Hurdle on day one of the 2024 Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse .
Having bypassed last month’s Cheltenham Festival, Willie Mullins' eight-year-old grabbed a nose victory in the Grade One feature of the opening day at the famous Liverpool track to show.. In a superb end to the 2m4f contest there was little to separate the three challengers at the line.
"On balance it was a hard result to change as Paul thought he was idling in front, which is a legitimate excuse. It will be interesting to hear how it went in there. This season hasn't gone to plan so to get him back to win a Grade One and a race of this magnitude is pleasing but one thing I have to say is Rachael probably gave hers the ride of the race, even though she didn't win. He could go to Punchestown or we might think about France.
"I thought we were unlucky to be fair, he got bumped at the second-last, crossed at the last and bumped after the last, but that's the way the stewards looked at it and we just have to accept that. He ran a huge race and it's brilliant to have him back. I would say it's unlikely he'll run at Punchestown, he has an entry so we'll see, but that was a tough race."
Dan Skelton was disappointed to see Langer Dan narrowly beaten and said: "I'm just gutted that he got beat, I want to to win on merit. We were coming to beat Impaire Et Passe and Bob Olinger was coming to beat us was how I felt. That's sport, that's life, we finished third and we'll have another go another day.
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