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Clan Des Obeaux clung on grimly to claim a second victory in the Betway Bowl Chase at Aintree and give Paul Nicholls an important winner.
Second in the race to Kemboy in 2019 and successful 12 months ago, the 10-year-old has also won the King George at Kempton twice.
He was on something of a retrieval mission here, however, as having finished second in the King George at Christmas he was disappointing in the Denman Chase at Newbury.
But in another example of why Nicholls has been a multiple champion he reached for first-time blinkers and Clan Des Obeaux looked back to his best.
With Nicky Henderson, and even Willie Mullins and Dan Skelton holding out hope of catching Nicholls in the race to be British champion trainer, the £140,000 added to his tally here could make all the difference.
With Kemboy’s jumping not holding up to the test on this occasion he was a spent force as Harry Cobden came alongside at the third-last.
Davy Russell was still trying to creep into contention on Conflated, but Clan Des Obeaux (13-2) went six lengths clear – only to get very tired in the final 50 yards.
Conflated closed to within a length, but the line came just too soon for him. Protektorat, third in the Gold Cup, travelled well for a long way but his Cheltenham exertions took their toll and he faded tamely in the straight.
Nicholls said: “You’ve to just keep changing things with the older horses. He didn’t run quite as well as we thought he was going to do at Newbury but he was trained for today, not for Newbury and he’s improved from then.
“We just tried to do something different with him, it’s just sharpened him up so much. He was getting a bit idle, he’s pricked his ears before the line there. When they get a bit older, he’s 10, they know the routine, they get a bit lazy.
“I wasn’t too despondent at Newbury, Harry was a little bit, but he always comes good in the spring. I’m delighted, things haven’t gone as well as I’d have liked and I’ve been pulling my hair out since Christmas to be honest with you. To get him back looking like that is a team effort.
“He’ll definitely go to Punchestown now, that was always the plan. He’s had some hard battles over the years, particularly at Punchestown, and you just wonder if they’re going to show that form again. He loved it round there, he had a great ride, jumped brilliant – it was perfect.”
He added of the nervy finish: “He was always going to hang on, he pricked his ears a little bit. Harry will be chuffed with that and that was a big boost for us. It’s a help, winners like that, but there’s still plenty to go and there’s Sandown still. It’ll make it [title] interesting, anyway!”
Knight Salute was awarded a dramatic Jewson Anniversary 4-y-o Juvenile Hurdle by the stewards at Aintree after initially dead-heating with Pied Piper
Pied Piper, third in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham last month, was sent off the 10-11 favourite to get back to winning ways and certainly brought the strongest form to the table.
Knight Salute (14-1) has been a revelation this season for his resurgent trainer Milton Harris, but had finished well beaten at Cheltenham, some 17 lengths behind Pied Piper.
That looked an outlier, though, as prior to that he had won his other five races this season, including two Grade Twos, and he was right back to his best on this occasion.
Paddy Brennan had clearly decided to play his hand last of all, and he tracked Davy Russell on the Gordon Elliott-trained market leader for the whole race.
Approaching the last Russell must have felt he had matters in hand as he had not asked a single question, but Pied Piper did not jump the final flight well and gave Knight Salute a nudge, which caused a stewards’ inquiry to be called after the long wait for the initial photo to be announced.
Despite the coming together at the last, Knight Salute was able to edge in front on the run-in, only for Pied Piper to battle back and claim a share of the spoils right on the line – or so it seemed.
A lengthy inquiry followed and even though Brennan told the stewards he felt the contact did not affect the result and he was happy with the outcome, the officials disagreed which meant Harris had landed his first Grade One winner to cap a great season.
The Boodles winner Brazil checked out on the run to the last and was beaten 12 lengths back in third.
Harris said: “He cost 14 grand and gives everyone a bit of optimism.
“Brennan is his own man and said thank you for sticking with him, and he didn’t knock the horse about when his chance had gone in the Triumph.
“He could run anything down, this horse, but the juveniles are still 15lb below the Champion Hurdle horses.
“That’s why we were going to take him for a race in America later in the year with a view to possibly selling him.”
He added on ultimately getting the race after the inquiry: “It doesn’t sit well with me, it’s not the way I like to play sport.
“But that’s the rules, and if the rules say that – I just feel sorry for the second, I thought it was a good battle and it’s a shame to see someone demoted.”
Speaking before the verdict of the stewards, Elliott said: “Davy didn’t say much, he just said he hit the front too soon and if he had his time back he’d have taken his time more.
“He followed Mark [Walsh, on Brazil] as he thought he was the horse to beat. He went by him and then idled and pulled up in front. Davy is raging with himself, but that’s horseracing.
“I’ll take a dead-heat in a Grade One any day of the week. We’ve hit the crossbar a lot over the last two weeks.
“Both horses ran great races. Full credit to Milton Harris and his team – they’ve done a good job with their horse and our team did a great job with ours.
“A dead-heat is a fair result and I’m happy. This horse will go straight to [Royal] Ascot now.”