The St James’s Place Festival Hunters’ Chase, “the amateurs’ Gold Cup”, went to Ireland courtesy of 28-1 chance Wonderwall, who upset the Its On The Line by a neck.

Winning trainer Sam Curling said: “A great bunch of lads own him, so they are going to enjoy themselves. It’s brilliant. He’s a very good horse, Wonderwall, he won his point-to-points well. We kept him fresh for the race. The ground probably dried too much for Angels Dawn. She likes soft ground, but she’s actually going to be covered now, so that was her last run, I would say. But the ground suited this horse (Wonderwall). We fancied him well, Rob gave him a lovely ride. He jumped brilliantly for him. His jumping used to be the issue, but it’s come very good there. We gave him a big chance if he got into a rhythm, which he did, so it’s great.

“He was always very well thought of and ran well in the Festival bumper before. He had a lot of good form. Derek won a couple of point-to-points on him and has done a great job getting him jumping. We’ve just done plenty of jumping. Philip Enright schools him at home a lot. We’ve just done a lot of jumping with him and it seems to have come together. Rob gave him a great ride. They’ve all done their bit to help with the horse, so it’s great.

“Rob got him into a great rhythm. He kept it simple. He’s the type of horse who likes to have lots of confidence, and Rob kept giving him confidence. He said he wasn’t doing much when he got to the front. It all worked out great.

“We didn't really think much about after today, but probably Punchestown I would say. I haven’t really thought past today.

“We are big into point-to-pointing and this is the race you want to win for that. It’s brilliant. It’s our championship race, so it’s great to win it.”

Winning jockey Rob James said: “Unbelievable. I was probably going too well and I just got there probably a bit too soon, but we held on. The line came in time, thank God!

“It’s the biggest race, it’s the one as an amateur you always want to win. It’s great. I can’t thank Sam and the owners enough, and Sam’s team at home who have done a wonderful job with this lad. It’s just top class. Absolutely brilliant.”

Sam Curling – 2 Festival wins
Rob James – 2 Festival wins