Henry VIII Novices' Chase report & replay: Allmankind beats Hitman

Dan Skelton's charge was one of last season's leading juvenile hurdlers and continues his freewheeling racing style.

Quick over his fences, Bill Gredley's four-year-old had beaten off every rival apart from Hitman (11/4) jumping the last.

He briefly threatened to gather momentum up the hill but could never land a blow, Allmankind running on strongly to score by two-and-a-half lengths.

Sky Bet slashed the winner to 8/1 for the Sporting Life Arkle at Cheltenham in March while Betfair and Paddy Power are 12/1 from 25s for the same race.

"That was a brilliant performance from Allmankind who jumped superbly. He looks a real player in the Sporting Life Arkle at Cheltenham and we go 8/1 fron 25s," said Sky Bet Head of Sports PR Michael Shinners.

Dan Skelton said: “It was brilliant. I’m just delighted we ended up going down the chasing route. We were a little bit head-scratching after his debut run of the season at Cheltenham. Perhaps the horse lulled me into a false sense of fitness that day as I thought he was a lot fitter than he was.

“Tim said let’s go chasing and I thought OK, it’s a bit of a brave man’s route. He wasn’t that great the first couple of schooling sessions at home, but ever since Warwick he just thinks these (fences) are brilliant and loves jumping them. He was a little bit out to his left, but we had a chat beforehand to contain that as much as possible.

“It is great watching those horses over the two-mile chase track here. I’m delighted to be on the winner’s roll with him.”

Click on the result to watch the free video replay

Assessing future plans Skelton earmarked the Grade Two Kingmaker Novices’ Chase at Warwick in February as possible target, ahead of an outing in the Sporting Life Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival, for which he was cut to 10-1 by Sky Bet and 8-1 by William Hill.

He added: “We will look at the spring targets. We will probably go back to Warwick for the Kingmaker, then look at the Arkle then look at Liverpool as well. He is a pleasure to have and has been a remarkable horse for us, a dual Grade One winner.”

Paul Nicholls will consider stepping runner-up Hitman up in trip on his next start, although he has not ruled out taking on the winner again.

He said: “It was a good run. Harry Skelton nicked it from the back of the Pond Fence and five lengths is hard to get back. It was only the fifth run of his career and second over fences and it was very good.

“All we did was stay on up the hill and his inexperience just caught him out down the back and those Railway fences. I wouldn’t be afraid of taking on the winner again with a bit more experience.

“He might get a bit further and he might be ideal for the Scilly Isles and Pendil. It was a good run for a young horse.”