Charlie Egerton's Darkness ran out a gutsy winner of the Feltham Novices' Chase at Sandown Park on Boxing Day and jumped to the head of the market for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase with VC Bet being cut from 8-1 to 5-1.

VC Bet's Neal Wilkins commented "Clearly Darkness is a quirky character who needs some knowing but has an ideal partner in Tony McCoy and possesses plenty of ability. He has set a standard for the others and would appear to be better going left-handed."

VC BET

ROYAL & SUNALLIANCE CHASE

5 Darkness
8 Monet's Garden
8 The Listener
12 Bewleys Berry
12 Missed That
14 Kill Devil Hill
16 Exotic Dancer
20 Church Island
20 Our Ben
25 Brewster
25 Basilea Star
33 Tumbling Dice
33 Gold Medallist

Each Way ¼ odds 1-2-3 Others On Request