The nine-year-old went off the boil last season and was pulled up in both the King George and Gold Cup, but the latest summer break, during which he had wind surgery, looks to have done him good.
Dropped in trip to 2m5f, Colin Tizzard's horse travelled with zest throughout and jumped well, while he found plenty for pressure when asked to overhaul Master Tommytucker in the closing stages.
Asked for a big jump at the last by Powell, he responded with a great leap and that sealed matters, his jockey pushing him out to ensure a four-length success.
Master Tommytucker ran well in second, with the pair 12 lengths ahead of Dashel Drasher in third. Defi Du Seuil failed on his own retrieval mission, a weak finishing effort seeing him trail home last of the four finishers.
The King George is the next assignment for the winner, with both Betfair and Paddy Power cutting him to 12/1 from 25s for the festive highlight.
Comeback kid
Joe Tizzard, assistant to his father, said: “I was a bit nervous coming in with this one, I was sending the boys videos of him schooling and we’ve had a couple of away days. I wasn’t going to run him half-cooked, they’ve got to back it up on the track and it’s just lovely that’s he’s gone and done it and galloped right to the line.
“This is the first step to getting him back. He’s got a King George entry, the plan is to get him back to the horse he was before the Gold Cup two years ago, he was a live contender and that’s ultimately the plan.
“We’ll see how he comes out of it and make sure we get it right so he’s ready in the spring.
“Today was a comeback, if it didn’t work today we’d be scratching our heads. He was fit for his comeback, we’ve now just got to keep him right for the spring.”
He went on: “He’s got an entry in the King George and you know what horses are like, if they’re well enough you’ve got to take your chance. We thought that would be perfect for him before, I’m not going to say it’s set in stone but we’ll just get him back and make sure he bounces out of this and make a plan.
“He loves the spring ground, that’s a big factor, we want him on good to soft ground so if the rain comes and it changes we might just have to be patient.
“We’ll be gearing towards the spring and if everything’s right for the King George then we’ve got that plan.”
Reflecting on last year for the yard, Tizzard added: “It was hard work to be honest, of course it tested us. we had a cracking Cheltenham but it was a testing time, we’d look at our horses and they’d look well and they weren’t finishing their races.
“I think we’ve put that to bed, the horses are flying and we’ve had a really good start to the season.”
