For the 10th time in the last 19 years, Paul Nicholls walked in with the Tingle Creek Chase winner here on Saturday, and the former champion trainer did so abuzz with the knowledge that Politologue is the sort of horse that could make him the current champion trainer once again.

This was Nicholls’s first win in an open Grade One chase since February 2016, and it came at the expense of the 8-13 favourite, Fox Norton, who chased Politologue all the way up the hill without ever threatening to overhaul him.

A slow jump at the first had left Fox Norton further off the pace than Robbie Power, his rider, would have liked, while Harry Cobden, on the winner, was able to cruise along in the slipstream of the front-running Ar Mad. However, Colin Tizzard, Fox Norton’s trainer, feels that two miles is now too short for him and a step up in trip, perhaps in the three-mile King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, seems likely.

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Politologue, by contrast, has thrived thanks to a drop back to two miles, having been bought by John Hales, his owner, with a view to winning a Cheltenham Gold Cup. He jumped impeccably throughout, closed on Ar Mad towards the end of the long line of fences on the back straight and sealed the win with another slick jump at the last.

“The faster they go and the more he can get a tow into a race, the better,” Nicholls said. “John always wanted him to be a Gold Cup horse and we tried to make him a three-miler, but then we went to Aintree [where he fell at the last when leading in a Grade One] and that’s why we’re back at two miles.

“I suspect we’ll go to Ascot with him at the end of January [for the Clarence House Chase] and then on to Cheltenham [for the Queen Mother Champion Chase].

“I was lucky to have all those good horses [in the past] but they only come in cycles and you’ve got to bring them along from the start, which we’ve done with him. He reminds me a bit of Master Minded. I’m not saying he’s anywhere near as good yet but he jumps well and has a lot of class and at six, he’s going to get better.”

The win was Cobden’s first in a Grade One chase and came a few days before the expected return to action of Sam Twiston-Davies, the first-choice jockey at the Nicholls stable.

“He’s a really good young jockey,” Nicholls said, “and today was a big occasion for him. He’s chilled and he can do the job, and I’ve got a great team of young jockeys. We wouldn’t dream of looking anywhere else, and Harry’s done an exceptional job today.”

Politologue is top-priced at 8-1 for the Champion Chase in a market headed by Nicky Henderson’s Altior at 2-1, while Fox Norton is 8-1 for the Champion Chase, in which he finished a close second last season, and 6-1 favourite for the Ryanair Chase over an extended two-and-a-half.

Sceau Royal was the 11-1 outsider of five runners in the Grade One Henry VIII Novice Chase, but he looked more like a long odds-on favourite as he drew alongside Brain Power between the final two fences and would have been an impressive winner even if he had not been left clear when Brain Power unseated his rider at the last.

Alan King, Sceau Royal’s trainer, admitted afterwards that even he had been surprised by the ease of the five-year-old’s success, but he also felt that drying ground played to his strengths and he could now put him away until the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham in March.

“We knew he was in great form, and I was always just worried over hurdles that we were maybe seven or 10 pounds below the very tops,” King said, “but I think the fences have improved him. You wouldn’t see a slicker round around here, or anywhere, and he was like that from day one. He loved fences the first time we ever schooled him.

“Whether he won today or he finished last, I knew that we wouldn’t have him any better. He goes on soft but he does appreciate better ground, and he’s a horse with a lot of confidence at the moment. I wouldn’t mind if he went straight to the Arkle, but there might be one run [beforehand], certainly no more.”

Sceau Royal’s price for the Arkle was cut from 25-1 to 8-1, and he is the new second-favourite for the race behind Willie Mullins’s Footpad, who is likely to run at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting this month.

At Aintree, Blaklion produced a faultless round of jumping over the Grand National fences to take the Becher Chase with ease and give Nigel Twiston-Davies, his trainer, a record sixth win in the race.

Blaklion raced towards the rear in the early stages but made steady progress towards the lead under Gavin Sheehan throughout the final circuit, and went further clear all the way to the line after edging ahead at the last fence.

“Those fences are a worry so it’s lovely when they get around like that,” Twiston-Davies said. “That’s exactly what we hoped for, he didn’t quite seem to get home in the National last year and here we’ve dropped back a mile and our prayers have been answered.”

“Other things will pop out of the woodwork [for the Grand National in April] but he must have a very good chance. If we ride him with a bit more restraint like we did today, we’ve only got about eight lengths to find.”

Greg Wood’s Sunday tips

Huntingdon 12.25 Smart Boy 12.55 Western Ryder 1.25 Keeper Hill 2.00 Chatez 2.30 Kylemore Lough (nap) 3.00 Outofthisworld 3.30 Le Couer Net

Kelso 12.10 Some Reign 12.40 Rocklander (nb) 1.10 Alizee De Janeiro 1.40 West Of The Edge 2.15 My Old Gold 2.45 Sun Cloud 3.15 Bafana Blue