IT was a mixed week on the racing front for Downpatrick-born David Maxwell but the London-based commercial property developer timed things to perfection in front of a large TV audience when winning at Sandown last Saturday.

The only amateur in the 11-strong two and a half-mile 32Red Handicap Chase, Maxwell was on board his own Philip Hobbs-trained Chef D’Equipe, a six-year-old French-bred Presenting gelding who was purchased for €130,000 at the Arqana Sale in July. Guy Petit signed the docket that day but it was the owner/rider who picked the horse. “He was the standout I thought of the day – although there were some good horses in that sale. I just couldn’t stop looking at him. It was love at first sight.”

The pair were having their fourth start as a combination on Saturday, their previous outing also coming at Sandown in early December where, over an extended three miles in amateur company, Chef d’Equipe finished fifth to Pete The Feat. On Saturday, that now 14-year-old placed second, beaten two lengths, to the Tikkanen gelding Buywise in Sandown’s final of the 2017 veterans’ chase series.

While Maxwell galvanised Chef d’Equipe to hold off Masterplan to win by neck on Saturday, it was a different story at Taunton on Tuesday for the first of the season’s hunters’ chases. There, the Northern amateur had to settle for second place when the 6/4 favourite Unioniste (12st 3lbs) failed by a nose to hold off the late-arriving Premier Portrait (11.9).

Trained by Paul Nicholls, Unioniste was having his second start under Maxwell.

Among the professional jockeys who finished behind David Maxwell at Sandown on Saturday was Brian Hughes who was fourth on Ambler Gambler. Second to Richard Johnson in last season’s British jump jockeys’ championship, South Armagh-born Hughes climbed to third place in the table on Tuesday when, breaking a long losing spell at Doncaster, he moved on to the 81-win mark for the campaign.