Betfair Chase: Royale Pagaille floors Bravemansgame at Haydock

Royale Pagaille shone brightest at his favourite track when upsetting Bravemansgame to land the Betfair Chase at Haydock.

The nine-year-old was second in this race in 2021 and returned to the Grade One contest at a price of 5-1 under Charlie Deutsch, having never been out of the first two in four previous trips to the Merseyside venue.

Dan Skelton’s Protektorat was occasionally erratic in his jumping and Lucinda Russell’s Corach Rambler, the reigning Grand National hero, found the race happening at too quick a pace.

It was left to Royale Pagaille and Paul Nicholls’ Bravemansgame, the 8-11 favourite, to share the lead in the battle for top honours.

And in the closing stages it was Venetia Williams’ charge who pushed on, jumping well over the final two fences to claim his biggest success to date by six and a half lengths. Corach Rambler was another nine lengths back in third.

Williams, who has her string in red-hot form, said: “Charlie got him into a great rhythm but he said for the first circuit he was quite laid back and not really grabbing the bridle, it wasn’t until he pulled him out wide that he did.

“He jumped very well, but if you’d seen him school on Thursday you wouldn’t believe it. But that’s him, he shows very little at home and switches it on for the races.

“You’d have to say that’s a career best from him. All horses have their day and have their lesser days. If all the others were at the top of their game then it might put a different light on it. The same applies to us on other days, on this day we were the best.

“Cheltenham is a unique course, you go up and down and round. Courses like this, dead flat, there shouldn’t be hard luck stories so you should have the best horse winning.”

She added: “I’m not saying he’s gone into any Gold Cup as favourite, but it’s a trappy course. It has to be, as it tests the best, just like the Derby at Epsom.

“He’s run in the last three Gold Cups, he should have only been in two but his owners Susannah and Rich (Ricci) had Monkfish who was red-hot favourite in the novice race and duly won.

“He has never had his ground at Cheltenham. Who knows, this year he might.

“Grade Ones are very hard to get so I’m absolutely thrilled for everyone at the yard.

“I’m glad the Irish didn’t come but they will be at Cheltenham! I wouldn’t have thought we’d be going to take them on over there, we’ve got a lot of nice races here anyway.

“This ranks pretty high in my career, we’ve won a lot of nice races but this one is up there.”

Grey Dawning put up an assured display to win the Betfair Exchange Graduation Chase at Haydock.

Trained by Dan Skelton, Grey Dawning impressed when winning a Grade Two over hurdles at Warwick last season and was still travelling well when falling in the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle won by Apple Away.

That Lucinda Russell-trained mare was in opposition once more, making her chasing debut, but Grey Dawning had a run over fences under his belt behind the classy Stay Away Fay at Exeter when third.

That experience clearly stood in him good stead as while the Grand National third Gaillard Du Mesnil’s jumping went to pieces a little, Grey Dawning gained lengths at every fence.

Henry Skelton’s positive nature seemed to gel perfectly with him, and the 2-1 chance bounded nine and a half lengths away from Gaillard Du Mesnil, who understandably found the two-mile-five trip on the short side.

Dan Skelton said: “He was a good horse last year, he won a Graded race. We saved him for Aintree as we didn’t want to over-race him over hurdles.

“You’d have never known what would have happened as he tipped up down the back straight, but I don’t think it’s foolish to say he’d have gone close.

“We’ve got to try to put that right as a chaser and win a big race when we can and as you can see he’s pretty good.

“These races are worth plenty, we were getting plenty of weight off the horse who finished third in the National so we thought we’d have a go. They put £50,000 up so if we can run in these races we will.

“I don’t think we’ll go to Kempton (Kauto Star) as he has a slight preference for going left-handed. In the new year there’s a race at Warwick (Hampton Novices’ Chase) for him so we’ll look at that.

“That’s not me ducking a Grade One, we’ll have a go at Stay Away Fay again later in the year.”

Emmet Mullins pulled off another masterstroke as Slate Lane ran away with the £150,000 Betfair “Serial Winners” Stayers’ Handicap Hurdle at Haydock.

Owned by Paul Byrnes, the man behind so many of Mullins’ breakthrough horses, Slate Lane was winning for the fourth time in succession.

Donagh Meyler always looked in complete control on the 11-4 favourite and he survived a messy jump at the last to win in style.

What would have made the result all the more satisfying for the trainer was that back in second, a length and a half away, was Fine Margin, trained by his uncle and champion trainer, Willie.

There was some concern after the race, however, as the winner returned with a nasty looking cut on his leg.

Before walking back to the stable yard to see to the injury Mullins said: “He’s won four in a row now so it’s great, it’s all come together.

“To be honest since he crossed the line at Cartmel in a maiden hurdle this was the plan and it was about getting him here on a reasonable mark and it’s come off.

“Everything went well. I thought there might not be much pace so I said to Donagh to line up wide and see how it unfolds and he was wise to it, he did the right thing letting him off.

“He’s very straightforward and as long as he keeps winning we’re happy enough.”

Byrne added: “It’s unbelievable, I’m delighted. He’s a great horse to win four in a row.

“Donagh was brilliant on him, he’s a cracking rider and I can’t understand why he doesn’t get more opportunities at home. He’s been very lucky for us.

“This was the plan. When you have a three-miler this was the one you are aiming for because there’s nothing else worth this much, it’s not like with a two-miler.

“I don’t think we’ll qualify for the Pertemps, but he is still a novice, whether he’s that good I don’t know.

“The cut is a little bit worrying, Emmet has followed the horse down and he doesn’t normally do that. It’s a bit concerning, Emmet didn’t like it.”

Kamsinas built on the promise of his previous outing when landing the Betfair Racing Podcasts Newton Novices’ Hurdle.

Trained by Fergal O’Brien, the six-year-old had gone close in Grade Two company at Cheltenham behind Neil King’s Lookaway and when the winner ran a big race in the Greatwood Hurdle afterwards, O’Brien knew he had a nice youngster on his hands.

He was taking on a couple of well-regarded types in Henry Daly’s Bowenspark and the Lucinda Russell-trained Primoz, but they could not live with Kamsinas (16-5) in the straight.

Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero’s Making Headway tried to make a race of it, but still went down by a length and a quarter behind Paddy Brennan on the winner.

O’Brien said: “We were very hopeful – I’m never confident – as he’d been working well and was very unlucky at Cheltenham when he got stopped in his run.

“That form was franked by the winner and what I loved about him there was he threw himself over the last showing a great will to win.

“I’m delighted with him, he’s a super little horse. We’ll all sit and have a chat about what next but we thought something like this was in him. We need these days.

“It’s a long road to Cheltenham in March and hopefully there’ll be a lot of races before then. I think he’ll get further and he’s already shown he handles Cheltenham.”

Dan Skelton hopes the handicapper does not get too carried away after Real Stone coasted to victory in the betting.betfair.com Handicap Chase.

When his two main market rivals, Cheddleton and Pay The Piper, dropped away, the 15-8 favourite coasted to a 20-length win under Harry Skelton.

Skelton said: “The first thing I have to say is that I hope the other two are OK because they clearly haven’t given their true running, they are good horses on their day.

“When you’ve been having a bit of a run like we have, when there’s nothing wrong with them but winners are not exactly flowing, it’s nice to enjoy one like that.

“We’ll go quietly with him, he’s not had loads of racing and he probably has to go left-handed which rules out those Ascot races, but we hope to end up in something like the Red Rum (at Aintree).”

Stuart Crawford ran two in the Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdle, both owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, and with Daryl Jacob unable to get down to 10st 3lb on Park Annonciade it was left to Ben Bromley to do the steering.

Son of the racing manager of the owners, Anthony Bromley, his 5lb allowance took his weight down even lower, the 3-1 joint-favourite beating Stainsby Girl by two and three-quarter lengths.

“I’m delighted to ride a winner on a big day like this, it’s huge for me,” said Bromley.

“I’m also delighted for Stuart, he’s a great trainer and is a big part of Simon and Isaac’s team, who I must also thank for the opportunities they keep giving me.”