A stewards enquiry was called at the Grand National Festival on Thursday following the Aintree Hurdle. Impaire Et Passe was first-past-the-post but there was a suggestion of interference on the home straight, with the winning margin being just a nose, but stewards left the result unchanged.
After being well-supported by punters all morning, Impaire Et Passe was roared home by the Aintree crowd on Thursday afternoon. However, despite leading for the majority of the home straight, a photo finish was required to declare that Willie Mullins’ stable star was first home.
Langer Dan and Bob Olinger were closing at pace at the finishing line, with the latter closing at the line and ultimately losing out by just a nose. The stewards did look into the race though, with the claxon being sounded after interference at the second-last.
Jockeys Paul Townend (Impaire Et Passe), Harry Skelton (Langer Dan) and Rachael Blackmore (Bob Olinger) were summoned to the stewards room to share their views and plead their case as to why the placings should be changed/unchanged.
Footage showed that Impaire Et Passe came across Langer Dan at the second-last, with his rivals’ jockeys declaring that he came off of his true line. Questions were also raised about how the six-year-old jumped out to his right at the last before digging in on the straight.
However, Townend managed to fight his corner well after listening to Skelton and Blackmore both declare that their mounts would have won if they had not been interfered with. The trio of jockeys then left the stewards room and it was promptly declared that the result would remain unchanged.
