McManus team to pause before plotting Durkan duo plan

Connections of Fact To File and Spillane’s Tower are in no rush to decide on future plans after the JP McManus-owned pair fought out a thrilling finish to the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase.

Both Grade One winners in novice events over fences last season, the pair graduated to open company with honours in Sunday’s elite level feature, with the Willie Mullins-trained Fact To File getting the better of Jimmy Mangan’s Spillane’s Tower by half a length.

With the winner’s dual Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning stablemate Galopin Des Champs back in third, the form could hardly be stronger and McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry is looking forward to seeing what both horses can achieve over the rest of the campaign.

“We were delighted with both horses, it was a cracking race. Both horses jumped well and finished out the race nicely, so you couldn’t be happier with them,” he said.

“I thought the third horse (Galopin Des Champs) ran a blinder over the trip. He’s the one they all have to beat and he ran a cracker, but we’re delighted with our horses and hopefully they’ll come out of the race good.”

Whether the team are able to split up Fact To File and Spillane’s Tower next time remains to be seen, with the Savills Chase at Leopardstown the obvious target for both.

The King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day is an alternative and would give McManus the option of splitting his aces, but neither horse is entered at this stage.

Berry added: “We’re going to sit on it for a week or 10 days, see how they come out of the race and make some decisions for around Christmas then.

“We’re not getting carried away, we’ll just see if the trainers are happy with both of them and see where we want to go.”