THE ground was back to “good to soft” for the second day at Aintree and Felix Desjy lasted the extended two miles of the Grade 1 Betway Top Novices’ Hurdle better than he had on softer ground at Cheltenham, making all under an enterprising Jack Kennedy ride to beat Aramon by a length and a half.

The Gordon Elliott-trained gelding did have to go pretty fast in the process, though, posting a 152 timefigure and a slow 93% finishing speed which suggests he can go a bit higher still another day.