Davy Russell was celebrating on Friday as Gerri Colombe put a narrow Cheltenham Festival reverse behind him with a dominant victory in the Air Charter Service Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree.
The Gordon Elliott-trained seven-year-old won two bumpers, two novices hurdles and his first three starts over fences, ensuring he was a hot favourite to maintain his unbeaten record in last month’s Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase in the Cotswolds.
Gerri Colombe came off second-best in a titanic tussle with The Real Whacker at Cheltenham, going down by a short head, and was a 4-6 shot to reward those who kept the faith.
