Angels Breath made it three wins from as many visits to Ascot after putting in an exhibition round of jumping to maintain his unbeaten record over fences in the Jacquart Noel Novices’ Chase.

Having made an impressive chasing debut at the track last month, the 1-5 favourite had little trouble in following up for Grade Two honours, defeating sole rival Mont Des Avaloirs by 23 lengths in the hands of Nico de Boinville.

But victory for the Nicky Henderson-trained five-year-old appeared to come at a cost, after it was discovered post-race he had sustained a cut to his off-fore tendon.

Henderson said: “We’ve not brought him in (winner’s enclosure), as there is a cut on the back of his off-fore tendon.

“They are just going to go down and clean it and wrap it up and take him home. The most important thing is to clean it, as there is a lot of muck out there.

“He has done nothing wrong the whole way round. They are good guys here and will clean it up and let us know later on.

“He was superb. He was a bit untidy at one fence coming up the hill and that is probably where he did it.”