Gerri Colombe battled to victory to take the William Hill Bowl Chase at Aintree.
Gordon Elliott's Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up was sent off the 9-4 favourite and travelled competitively throughout under Jack Kennedy.
He was ridden rounding the home turn but as stamina came to the fore up the run in, he locked horns with Ahoy Senor.
While Lucinda Russell’s charge did his best to fight back up the inside, Gerri Colombe was just too strong and came home half a length in front.
Corbetts Cross finished a further two and a quarter lengths back in third.
Elliott hailed Gerri Colombe's winning spirit, with another Gold Cup challenge already on his mind.
He said: "He was very tough, Jack said it wasn’t happening the whole way and he felt a bit flat the whole way, but it shows the guts the horse has that he still won.
"Jack said he probably ended up in front too soon in the end, but he’s a great horse who only does what he has to do and we’re lucky to have him.
"Believe it or not, I actually think he could be a bit better on better ground.
"All roads lead back to the Gold Cup next year, we’ll probably go the same route again and keep dreaming."
Sir Gino preserved his flawless record with a neat victory in the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree.
Nicky Henderson's gelding missed the Cheltenham Festival as the stable was under a cloud and looked to claim his first Grade One in Liverpool instead.
Under Nico de Boinville, he did so with little fuss, winning comfortably as the 11-10 favourite after a good jump at the last.
Henderson said: "We knew what we were walking into and while it is a relief, one swallow doesn’t make a summer as they say.
"He galloped right through the line in what was a messy race, it was awfully stop-start. His jumping was untidy up the straight but you could see from the speed on the screen, it got slowed up dramatically, the second was pulling hard as well but he’s done what he had to do.
"He is a very good horse but he’s got a long way to go. He is in Punchestown but that was in case of protestors or bomb scares or something stupid, but I wouldn’t have thought that was high on the agenda.
"I always had the feeling he was going to pick up the second but you could get a tidier race than that.
"He’ll have to stick to hurdles next season but I’m not going to think about that now. I know where one person (Constitution Hill) is going so we’ll have to see if there’s an alternative route."
Il Etait Temps cruised to success in the Close Brothers Manifesto Novices' Chase.
Willie Mullins’ grey was ridden by Paul Townend and travelled patiently at the rear of the field of five.
He was always in touch, however, and was able to pick off each of his rivals to take up the lead ahead of the last fence and went on to prevail comfortably at 3-1.
The race saw another clash between the Paul Nicholls-trained Ginny’s Destiny and Dan Skelton’s Grey Dawning, with the latter having come out on top at Cheltenham.
He was favourite to do so again but Harry Skelton was just niggling to keep in contention at the top of the straight.
Harry Cobden looked to have saved a bit on Ginny’s Destiny but the Mullins runner, as so often, looked in a different league. He hit the front and, despite making a bit of a mess of the last fence, had plenty left in the locker.
Ginny’s Destiny just held off Grey Dawning for second.
