Harry Fry’s Boothill struck late to down Aucunrisque and record his third victory of the season over fences in a competitive running of the Ladbrokes Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at Kempton.
Only four went to post for the Grade Two contest, but the lack of numbers did not effect the quality on show and Aucunrisque shaded affairs at the head of the closely-bunched quartet in the early stages.
Harry Skelton was keen to match strides with Chris Gordon's six-year-old aboard 13-8 favourite Lac De Constance, but the former champion jockey was unseated following a blunder at the final ditch as the tempo began to increase.
Tom Cannon kept his foot down on Aucunrisque following the departure of Lac De Constance and had opened up a three-length lead over Boothill as the field jumped three out.
But Boothill responded gamely to rider Jonathan Burke's urgings soon after and edged his way to the front with a fine leap at the last – landing full of running and galloping on to the line to shade the long-time leader by a length.
It was the perfect way for the seven-year-old to get back to winning ways following a respectable effort behind Jonbon in the Henry VIII Novices' Chase earlier this month and both Betfair and Coral have cut the son of Presenting to 25-1 for a potential rematch with Nicky Henderson's Arkle favourite at the Cheltenham Festival.
The winning rider was full of praise for his mount and said: "We probably didn't go as quick as I thought we would, but I'd say my horse is growing in confidence with every run. He's showing battling qualities now that he probably didn't show in the past, so every time he runs he's improving.
"We've bumped into Jonbon before and I'm sure we'll take him on again, but he's getting better with every run and his jumping is his thing – he's jumping so well in his races. Trying to settle him is not easy when he's jumping as well as that, but he's battling better than he ever has.
"Because he was keen I took the decision to sit at the back of the four so I could fill him up and if I couldn't do that I wouldn't be in contention. Moving to the last, he was going well so it was great. We'll be keen to take on Jonbon again, we probably won't beat him but we're up for the fight."
Gordon was also proud of the efforts of the runner-up and now has the Grand Annual at Cheltenham in his sights.
He said: "He has run an absolute blinder. It is one of those things – if he was tailed off and came and finished second I would have been really happy.
"When we came around the bend I thought 'we have got this' and that is what is painful as a trainer. At the end of the day, when you sit down you'd say he has run a blinder. The owner just mentioned about the Arkle but the Grand Annual might be fantastic for him. I think maybe if they feel they would like to go to Cheltenham, we could put an entry in both of those.
"Hopefully the handicapper is sensible. If they are not sensible it puts you off running horses like this in it (Grand Annual). He scared me with his jumping early on as he is small but he has really got his jumping together, so maybe we can look at a race like that (Grand Annual)."
