By that time, Tom Doyle had Norma Hill (100-30) in full flight and they held on to beat Arkle entry Marcel by one and a quarter lengths.

Sarah Hollinshead, representing her father and trainer Reg, said: “She was getting all the allowances, but she still had to jump those fences.

“We have done plenty of schooling with her at home after her chasing debut a couple of months ago and she did it well.”

She added: “Paul Moloney has done all the schooling with her, but he had to go to Southwell today. We had booked Carl Llewellyn but he was injured and we did not book Tom until we were on our way to the course."

Meanwhile, Secured caused a 100-1 shock when landing the J.H.Newton Memorial Novices' Hurdle in a cracking finish with Adventurist.

And it ended something of a family tradition involving stable companion and half-brother, Mister Mustard.

Trainer Ian Williams revealed: “Mister Mustard had a habit of finishing second at Ludlow and I feared the same might be happening again halfway up the run-in.

“But he battled on really well and has obviously improved considerably since his last run.

“He was disappointing at Newbury, but Jimmy McCarthy did say he would improve and hopefully that improvement will now continue.”

Secured paid £146 (€214) on the Tote for his short-head victory, with Square Mile a further seven lengths back in third place.

The winner is owned by Favourites Racing, whose racing manager Graham Skeats said: “Ultimately he is a chaser and we thought that three miles would be his optimum trip, but he has done that well.”