Imperial Saint wins again at Aintree Racecourse

Imperial Saint (5-6 favourite) made it two from two over the bigger obstacles with victory in the Boylesports Choose Wisely Handicap Chase Handicap Chase at Aintree Racecourse.

Phillip Hobbs and Johnson White’s six-year-old – who scored in good style over course and distance on his chasing debut at Aintree last month – followed up that with another victory at the home of the Randox Grand National.

Imperial Saint is becoming the flagbearer of a syndicate set up by former champion jockey Richard Johnson. Trained by the legendary rider's former boss Hobbs and White, the six-year-old took to the bigger obstacles in fine style at Aintree last month and confirmed that progress with this even better success. Johnson, who partnered 3,818 winners in remarkable career in the saddle, has four horses owned by syndicates he set up – two with his old boss Philip Hobbs and Johnson White and two with Henry Daly.

Under Michael Nolan, he was always travelling well off the pace set by Magistrato (8-1) and Calgary Tiger (28-1). But he moved through smoothly between the final two fences to take over. He again jumped the last confidently and went on to score by eight-and-a-half lengths from Magistrato with Calgary Tiger a neck back in third.

Johnson said: "He had been a lovely horse for us. He was our first ever runner with our syndicate. He has been a pleasure to deal with and for me to have a horse with Phillip and Johnson that was always the plan to have one with them and one with Henry Daly. We have had a lot of fun with him. I didn't really expect to have a Saturday horse to give our owners so much fun. It has been great for all of us and the fact that for me to be involved with them it a massive part of it.

"Hopefully the handicapper is too hard. It looked a competitive race but hopefully he is improving horse and we can go somewhere else with. We are enjoying the moment and the trainer can plan something."

White added: "It has been fantastic to carry on the association with Dickie, through trainer-jockey and now owner-syndicate manager and it has been fantastic. We have got a great team of owners together and when we came here a fortnight ago a lot of the owners were saying it is just amazing to have a runner here. And now we have had two winners here and it is staggering. He is such a lovely horse to train easy to deal with and it is onwards and upwards from here.

"He was very good in his point-to-points back in Ireland and he schooled very well. Dickie has schooled him a lot at home pre-training. So he has always done that well. By all accounts his jumping was pretty good. He is a horse that travels very well over two miles but I am sure he will improve again over further when we need to go further. But at the moment we don't need to go further and he is a horse to look forward too. He has been very versatile on the courses he has run on, and it has worked very well so far."

Harbour Lake (3-1) landed an excellent win in the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle. And now the Alan King-trained eight-year-old will be aimed at the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival in March 2025. Under Tom Cannon, Harbour Lake – in the famous yellow and white-quartered silks of the late three-time Grand National winner Trevor Hemmings – travelled well throughout and came through to lead coming to the final flight. He went to score by two-and-a-quarter-lengths from 6-4 favourite Guard The Moon, who had always been prominent throughout the three-mile contest. Magical King (8-1) was eight-and-a-half-lengths back in third with Willaston fourth.

Harbour Lake had been tried over fences last season, but didn't take to them. He reverted back to the smaller obstacles to be placed a couple of times at the end of last season at Cheltenham and Haydock. There is a similar valuable race at Haydock Park on Betfair Chase day in two weeks, but trainer King believes that will come too soo for Harbour Lake. He is likely to have a couple more runs before heading to Prestbury Park in the spring.

King said: "He was much more relaxed today. I thought he was going to be a very good novice chase last year and he schooled well at home. But he just didn't take to it on the track. We tried two or three times but we went back to hurdles. He ran well at the back-end of last season and we have a lovely clean run with him this autumn. We hoped and thought he would run well today and he has.

"I think the Final has be the aim. He is in at Haydock, but that would only be two weeks and I would imagine that is going to come too quick. We could work back from the Final at Cheltenham. He wouldn't want a lot of racing, but it is a nice problem today. He doesn't mind a bit of that good ground and bar the last he was very quick through the air over his hurdles. But he was quite clever at the last. We will have maybe two more runs before Cheltenham, but we will see. I am not one of these Irish boys who put them away for Cheltenham. But he wouldn't want to be on the slog all winter."

Mister Meggit (evens favourite) made a smooth winning debut over obstacles with victory in the opener, the Boylesports Daily Money Back Meetings EBF “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle.

The Jonjo O'Neill-trained four-year-old, sporting the famous silks of the late three-time Grand National winner Trevor Hemmings, had won two of his three bumpers last season. His only defeat when he suffered less than ideal passage in the Grade Two contest at Aintree's Grand National meeting in April. But under Jonjo O'Neill junior, his debut over obstacles was much more comfortable. He jumped and travelled well off the pace set by Ben Solo and then Glynn Brae. But he moved through ominously between the third and second last flights. He hit the front and went on to score well by four-and-three-quarters-of-a-length to Off The Jury (8-1) with Kepler's Law (40-1) staying on to be another four lengths adrift in fourth.

Mister Meggit looks an exciting young hurdler, who may make up into a chaser – like many of Hemmings' most famous horses in future. But for now trainer O'Neil is looking forward to bidding for more success up in grade over the smaller obstacles. The Challow Hurdle at Newbury or the Grade One former Tolworth Hurdle, the Formby Novices' Hurdle over course and distance back at Aintree on Boxing Day are possibly next for Mister Meggit.

O'Neill said: "You have to happy with that. It was a nice race and a nice runaround. He jumped reasonably well and he is hopefully something to look forward to. He looked good last year and he is amazing horse because he doesn't show you anything at home. But thank God he lights up when he comes here. He is a grand horse and the last one I had like that was (2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner) Synchronised. He didn't show anything at home.

"He warmed up into the race and he was quite nice to watch. We don't know what we will do. We don't know what it around for him. We will have a look, talk to (racing manager) Mick (Meagher) and make a plan. He is a horse and we will be looking forward to planning. He is good over his hurdles so we will stick for that now. Let's get over this and maybe something like the Challow Hurdle. But we will plan later, that was the plan."

Haiti Couleurs (5-6 favourite) ran out an impressive winner of the Boylesports Best Odds Guaranteed Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase. And trainer Rebecca Curtis is hoping he makes up into a genuine Welsh Grand National horse in time.

Under Sean Bowen, the seven-year-old – who had won twice over hurdles – got off the mark over the bigger obstacles having been second on his chase debut at Chepstow last month. Hauti Couleurs was sat off the pace set by the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Uncle Bert for much of the early parts of the extended 3m1f contest, jumping smoothly and travelling supremely well. Then coming to the fourth-last fence he took over and following the falls of Equinus and Ike Sport only had one rival, Uncle Bert. But Hauti Couleurs powered clear of his rival and went on to score by an impressive 15 lengths.

Curtis said: "He has done that fairly well. Jumped well, travelled nicely and he is very versatile on ground. He has won on nice ground there and has gone well on heavy. I think he will be a Welsh National-type horse. Not for this year but maybe next. It is nice that they have changed the National Hunt Chase (at the Cheltenham Festival) to a handicap, so we will look at something like that for the spring.

"We will see how he progresses. He was always going to be better over fences. He is a nice horse. He missed a season and was schooling and sliced quite badly in the bottom of his tendon, so we missed all of his first season hurdling. So he is relatively inexperienced so hopefully he will keep improving and keep impressing. We will just get today out of the way and see what the handicapper does and go from there."