Kempton curtain-raiser sees Leader In The Park take lion's share of prize-money

Ben Jones judged the pace to perfection as he rode his rivals to sleep to win the Ladbrokes Best Odds Guaranteed On Racing Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase on Leader In The Park at Kempton Park.

Lightly raced over hurdles, he was having just his second outing over fences for Ben Pauling against some far more experienced rivals.

That lack of action did mean he was carrying bottom-weight and when Jones was gifted an easy lead, he was always going to be hard to peg back. His jumping meant he was always able to keep his rivals at arms length and despite getting in a bit tight to the last, the 5-1 chance still had a length and a quarter to spare over Asta La Pasta.

Pauling said: “He’s been so disappointing, but I think he just takes a lot of getting fit so you have allow him his first run at Cheltenham where he never jumped fluently. Today he jumped better and I think he is going to be better left-handed as he just went left at a few looking for room. He’s still learning, but that was a good start.

“He did it the hard way (from the front) because we wanted to do it that way. We were worried about the fact he wasn’t going to be as good in behind and I think at the moment he needs to be positive and allowed to dominate.

“His jumping was pretty good, there were three or four I would have liked him to have shortened more effectively, but he was brilliant when he was good. He just needs to learn when to shorten or let fly.”

On future plans, he added: “He will be too low in the handicap (for the novice handicap at Cheltenham) at the moment and would need to win a couple of more races yet. Winning this will do for now.”

It was a notable day for Nicky Henderson who once again proved his skill in bringing a horse back from the brink with Constitution Hill winning the Christmas Hurdle.

Later on the card he unleashed a potentially smart new recruit in the shape of Kientzheim (2-1 joint-favourite) who won the Ladbrokes “Gaffer Of All Accas” Maiden Hurdle.

“She’s a very nice filly and she’s closely related to (dual Champion Hurdle winner) Epatante, she’s her aunt,” said Henderson.

“I was hopeful coming here and I like the way she did it. She jumped great until the latter part when she got a bit novicey, which she’s entitled to do.”

Henderson went on to make it a treble on the day when East India Express (5-4 favourite) followed up a win at Ascot a few days ago in the Ladbrokes Get Rewarded With Ladbucks Handicap Hurdle under Freddie Gordon.