Cavani Menswear Sefton Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1)

PAUL Nicholls edged closer to his 13th British jump trainers’ championship when Gelino Bello (Harry Cobden) ran out a decisive winner of this three-miler.

An indication of the race’s dubious quality was given by the trainer in the immediate aftermath when he admitted he didn’t realise it was a Grade 1 contest.

That won’t bother connections of the French-bred six-year-old who deliberately avoided Cheltenham in favour of this contest. The winner was comprehensively beaten twice earlier this season by the Charles Byrnes-trained Blazing Khal.

Always prominent here, the 7/2 shot jumped the final two flights alongside 28/1 chance Gentleman At Arms (Stuart Edmunds/Ciaran Gethings) before staying on too strongly for his rival and scoring by almost five lengths. Gelino Bello goes chasing next season.

‘Tiny’ Langer

Friday’s card opened with an overdue win for Langer Dan in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle.

Winner of the 2021 Imperial Cup, Dan Skelton’s charge bumped into Galopin Des Champs in the Martin Pipe at Cheltenham a few days later, and was laid out for the same race in 2022 only to be brought down at the second flight at Cheltenham last month.

This time everything went right for the 4/1 joint favourite, who scored by a length and three-quarters from Fils D’Oudairies, the pair well clear.

The winning trainer said: “He was clearly a Grade 1 horse in a handicap. He’s entitled to get a bit better than last year, because as he’s getting older he’s getting stronger. He’s tiny but he’s just getting a little bit more mature.”

As for future plans he added: “All things being equal, we’ll throw the dice at that Select Hurdle at Sandown in two weeks, then next year, if it’s appropriate, we might even start at something like the West Yorkshire Hurdle, and go from there. He won’t jump fences - he wouldn’t see over one!”