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"Jumping hasn't always been his forte but this was the best he's ever jumped," enthused Mark Wall after piloting William Somers to victory in the valuable Mallard Pawnbrokers Hunters' Chase.

Tim and Irene Sage had long had this race as their owner-bred's target, and the success was some recompense for Mark, who admitted that "I've been kicking myself to kingdom come" ever since the pair had just got beaten in the Connolly's Red Mills final last May.

William Somers, who was lucky to escape injury when he turned over after putting his foot in a badger hole out hunting, will have an entry for the Cheltenham Foxhunters. "I think he deserves it, and he can handle anything softer than good," smiled Mark.

Tim and Irene - "We're true amateurs and we do it all ourselves," Irene stressed - named the ten-year-old after a great friend, Bishop William Somers Llewellyn, who passed away the year that his namesake was born.

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Runner-up Turko, who ran such a good race in defeat, was reported to have lost a shoe, while third-placed Battlecry faded on the run-in.

Owner Charlie Fox admitted to disappointment with the performance of the favourite Turthen, who could finish only fourth. "He was never travelling," said Charlotte Tizzard, who thought the race might have come too soon after his Wincanton triumph. "He usually has three weeks between his races, and this was only a fortnight," she explained. Turthen is unlikely to go to Cheltenham, where he finished second to Cappa Bleu in 2009, with Charlie confessing "I've never been that bothered about Cheltenham anyway."

The consistent Farmer Frank, who was pulled up, may have run his race in the lorry en route to the track. Never the best of travellers, he had sweated up badly, and trainer Nick Kent reported him to be somewhat distressed afterwards.

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DICK SAUNDERS NOVICES' HUNTERS' CHASE

Tim Edwards, who lives only 20 minutes from the course, made his first ride at Leicester a winning one when What Of It, trained for him by his sister, Sophie George, just got home from Louis Pasteur.

Tim, a former officer in the Lifeguards who now works in London, is a regular competitor in the Military races at Sandown, but chose this meeting ahead of Friday's Royal Artillery Gold Cup, in which What Of It had an entry. A tilt at the Grand Military Gold Cup in March, a race Tim has yet to win, is a possibility for the eight-year-old, who was bought in Ireland four years ago, although he could instead go for the Queen Mother Memorial Hunters' Chase on the same card, a race which his jockey landed last season on Van Ness.

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Louis Pasteur must be counted an unlucky loser, as a monumental error brought him to a standstill at the last in the back straight, the same obstacle at which he had blundered first time around. Robbie Henderson made a great recovery on both occasions, but the ground he lost proved just too much to make up.

Robbie had earlier teamed up with Louis Pasteur's trainer Nick Mitchell to win the Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Novices' Chase on Betabob, owned by the rider's parents Guy and Sophie.

He currently rides out at several yards but has given up thoughts of turning Conditional, and in July is due to join Alan King as pupil-assistant.

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