Randox Foxhunters' Open Hunters' Chase |
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| £50,000 guaranteed, Aintree 15:30 6yo plus, 2m 5f 19y, Class 2  |
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1 Barton Snow 7/4F
2
Lets Go Champ 11/1
3
Take All 50/1
24 ran NR: Empire De Maulde
Distances: 7l, 1¼l, 2¾l Time: 5m 31.84s (slow by 9.84s)
Fresh from Cheltenham Festival success 😮💨
— Aintree Racecourse (@AintreeRaces) April 9, 2026
Barton Snow stays on strongly once again in the @Randox_health Foxhunters' Chase 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/lujJQbbJG6
There are performances that confirm expectation and others that transcend it, and Barton Snow’s victory here belongs firmly in the latter category.
Already a Cheltenham Festival winner, Joe O’Shea’s nine-year-old arrived at Aintree with an unblemished record in hunter chases and left with it intact, having produced a display that was as authoritative as it was effortless. Sent off the 7-4 favourite under Henry Crow, he travelled with complete ease throughout before asserting on the run-in, cantering home on the bridle to win by seven lengths with something very much in hand.
It was not merely the margin that impressed, but the manner in which it was achieved — a horse operating well within himself, seemingly untroubled by the demands of the race, and hinting at reserves yet to be fully explored.
O’Shea, who has never been short of conviction when it comes to his stable star, was understandably effusive.
“I don’t know how good this horse is, no one does yet. He does this every day at home.
“If NASA had phoned me I could have got them there in nine days instead of 10! He’s amazing. Henry said he was only in third gear.
“We realised he was very good when he won at Stratford last year, beating a good horse of Paul Nicholls’ in Viroflay. The camera was on him and clocked him going 37.2mph at the last hard held.
“When I heard how fast Constitution Hill was going the other day, this horse can keep it up at that pace. We just don’t know how good he is.”
For all the hyperbole, there is substance behind the enthusiasm. Barton Snow has now completed the Cheltenham-Aintree double, a feat that places him in select company, and he has done so in a manner that suggests his current level may not yet represent his ceiling.
Yet the story is not without its poignancy. O’Shea’s recent health concerns cast a shadow over proceedings, lending a different perspective to both success and what may follow.
“The surgeon said I’ve got to walk away or die, I’ve had a quadruple heart bypass and the stress puts me under too much pressure.
“We’ve got one even better at home, by the same sire Snow Sky, he’s called Boley Bob, he’s won four and is going to Hexham in two weeks where he’ll win.
“If I do decide to stay it’s not because of Barton Snow, it’s because of Boley Bob.”
As for what lies ahead for the Aintree winner, even O’Shea strikes a note of caution.
“It’s hard enough beating the Irish here never mind over there so I don’t know about Punchestown, but the Horse & Hound Cup (at Stratford) is too far for him, so if it was good ground at Punchestown the prize-money could be tempting.”
Fox Hunters' Chase
£50,000 guaranteed, 6yo plus, 2m 5f 19y, Class 2
24 ran
Going: Good to Soft
