Master Chewy (11/1) was too strong in the finish beating his four rivals to land Gr2 William Hill Best Odds Guaranteed Game Spirit Chase for his connections.
The Nigel Twiston-Davies trained eight-year-old, ridden by his son Sam, won by just over a length from Libberty Hunter at Newbury on Saturday afternoon. His front-running stablemate Matata (11/8 favourite) was a further three-quarters of a length back in third.
Master Chewy wins well under jockey Sam Twiston-Davies (Pic – Coolmore)
Matata jumped the last in front but drifted slightly on the run to the line, handing the advantage to the game Master Chewy who stayed on all the way to break his winless run.
The Sam Twiston-Davies ridden winner had a much easier task after the short-priced and unbeaten Sir Gino was withdrawn overnight due to a sore hind leg.
Nicky Henderson is now considering running Sir Gino just over two weeks before Cheltenham after the Arkle favourite missed his Newbury prep.
Henderson has identified the Pendil Novices’ Chase at Kempton on February 22 as the likely pre-festival target.
Despite the trainer admitting the Pendil trip of 2m4½f is “not ideal”, he is desperate to get more experience into Sir Gino, who has run only once over fences, before the Arkle on March 11.
After an electric chase debut victory over Ballyburn in the Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at Kempton over Christmas, Joe and Marie Donnelly’s top novice chaser was made favourite for the Arkle.
“The reason I wanted to come here rather than the novice at Warwick was to get horses who could give him a lead and go a right good gallop. Therefore, he wouldn’t have had to go around on his own, and that’s the one thing I don’t want to do,” said Henderson.
One of Sir Gino’s potential Arkle rivals is the Dan Skelton trained L’Eau Du Sud who made no mistake in the Gr2 Unibet Kingmaker Chase up north at Warwick.
An overcast day at the Midlands track provided a fitting backdrop with the big grey providing a poignant success in the late John Hales yellow and red silks.
Hales’s daughter Lisa was in attendance and said: “It’s been a tough week, and the big man is up there watching. He would be proud of this. He’d have loved today – he loved having horses with Sir Alex [Ferguson] and Ged [Mason] and all his trainers. He lived and breathed racing.”
L’Eau Du Sud jumped particularly well and looked set for a wide margin win in the home straight. However, Harry Skelton’s mount idled on the run-in, and in the end held on by a length from Rubaud in the four-runner Group 2 worth £75,000.
L’Eau Du Sud finished second in last season’s Betfair Hurdle and County Hurdle and is now 4-4 over fences this campaign. He is third in the Arkle betting behind 8-11 favourite Sir Gino and 15-8 shot Majborough.
Dan Skelton said: “His jumping was really good, and it was an important race, even more so with Harry wearing John’s colours.”
“He’s a really good two-miler; he’s got the speed, and he can jump at that pace. He and Rubaud went really quick. He was superior from the back of three out to the last and probably got a bit lonely late on. That will put him spot on for next month.”
“He has more experience than Sir Gino and Majborough, and experience counts for a lot, but ability supersedes experience the majority of the time. I don’t think L’Eau Du Sud is lacking in ability, though. He’s a very good horse; been a great novice this season and we go there full of hope.”
