THIS weekend marked the final opportunity for horses to qualify for the St. James’s Place Festival Hunter Chase at next month’s Cheltenham Festival, with entries for the blue riband hunter chase with entries revealed on Tuesday.

For those horses not qualifying through the hunter chase route, two open lightweight victories are required since October 2020 to meet the minimum conditions for entry into the race, with open races at each of this weekend’s four pointing venues offering these final opportunities to meet the criteria.