Impaire et Passe attended the grand national conference at Willie Mullins in Aintree and was successful in the pursuit of the EBC Group Navesto Navices.

Paul Townend rides a 9/4 chance, and it was the seven-year-old – the champion of Aintree Hurdle last year’s meeting – entered a fresh horse and skipped the Cheltenham Festival.

He went well throughout the process, taking over probably earlier than he liked after Harry Fry’s Gidleigh Park stood too far in the latter stage. But while Gidleigh Park stuck with his mission in the game, his mission wasn’t much.

Nicky Henderson’s Ark Champion Jango Baie was sent off his 6/4 favorite, but he always caught up slightly and tried, and he was another short distance in third place.

“It’s good. Over half a mile and cheeks seemed to fit him well, and I think the fast pace seemed to fit him, so everything went as planned.

“It was a trouble-free round and from my stands, I didn’t see any errors, so he did a great job.

“Simon (Munir) and Isaac (Owner Souede) are very keen to have a team coming to Aintree (priority over Cheltenham), so it’s for me.”

Henderson said of Jango Baie: “The other two have not yet gone to Cheltenham, so he did a great job.

“He’s going home as strongly as Cheltenham. I think we’re going to almost start next year on three (miles).

“We put him in three milliliters, which was a toss between the two games, and it was as close as the coins we played.

“He’s an exciting horse, you all have seen him, every time it’s over, he’s back home strong. He just played a flat position, which made him a little busy, but he’s been flat at Cheltenham, at least he’s traveling today.

“I think he did a great job because it had to be a tough game in Cheltenham. As the week went on we just had to watch with the rest of the guys, they all went there and ran very well. I’m not panicking yet – here it’s!

“He’s probably King George.”