Gowel Road won an eventful Ascot Underwriting Novices' Limited Handicap Chase as Goshen failed to show his best first time out over fences.
Gary Moore's enigmatic and highly-rated hurdler Goshen dominated the betting (11/8 favourite) on the back of some glowing reports surrounding his schooling over the larger obstacles at home, and for the first half of Saturday's race everything looked to be going relatively smoothly.
However, mistakes began to creep in and as soon as Samarrive initially headed Goshen, the distress signals were being sent out by Jamie Moore in the saddle and he couldn't get back into a rhythm as his three rivals went through the gears.
Samarrive was still travelling sweetly ahead of Nigel Twiston-Davies' Gowel Road and a struggling Cobblers Dream on turning into the straight and Paul Nicholls' horse looked to have gained the upper hand from a determined Gowel Road coming to the second-last fence.
However, the leader took a crashing fall which left the race at the mercy of Gowel Road - who had a run over fences already at Perth in September - and Sam Twiston-Davies merely had to keep the six-year-old up to his work to win by 18 lengths from Cobblers Dream, who plugged on to be second, with Goshen ultimately finishing a further 47 lengths adrift.
Sammarive and rider Lorcan Williams both got to their feet after what looked a worrying fall.
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Sam Twiston-Davies said on Sky Sports Racing: "The others have got up safe and sound which is first and foremost.
"He took a bit of time to warm up but thankfully he's won. He's by Flemensfirth so would probably prefer softer ground. For him, it rode like nice safe ground.
"The owners have been massive supporters of the yard for a while now so it's great."
His father Nigel said: “He was the outsider of four and the only one to have jumped fences in public. Sam said he was adept at his fences and was never going to fall.
“Fortune favours the brave on these posh jobs, and it worked. I have absolutely nothing in mind for him, but all roads lead to Cheltenham."
Gary Moore told Sky Sports Racing: “Obviously the ground is not what Goshen wants, he’s a proper soft ground horse – the softer the better – and whether he’s a chaser or not, I don’t really think so
“He’s probably not cut out as the make or shape of a chaser, although he schooled very well at home – it’s a bit different coming to racecourse when you’re put under pressure and today they were all in control of the race and we weren’t.
“He jumped well enough, economical, but they were sort of always going better than him.
“We will probably go back over hurdles now.
“I would give him one more chance (over fences) on very soft ground. To be fair to him, he’s got round today and it’s not the easiest place to get round, but he took a long time to do it and that’s no good!”
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