L’Eau Du Sud held on to his unbeaten record over fences as he claimed a poignant victory in the Unibet Kingmaker Novices’ Chase at Warwick.

The grey was carrying the famous yellow and red silks of his late co-owner John Hales, who died last week at the age of 85 and was famed for his association with such horses as One Man, Azertyuiop and Grand National hero Neptune Collonges among many others.

L’Eau Du Sud was sent off the 1/5 favourite for trainer Dan Skelton in a small field for the Grade Two, with Harry Skelton in the saddle against just three rivals.

He jumped and travelled well throughout and approaching the turn for home strolled into a clear lead, but Paul Nicholls’ Rubaud gave chase over the final two obstacles and reduced the margin to a length on the line.

Hales’ daughter Lisa shared his love of racing and felt her father would have thoroughly enjoyed L’Eau Du Sud’s game victory.

She said: “The big man is definitely up there watching.

“Harry gave him a great ride, it’s not been a great week but he’d be very proud.

“I’m so glad we took him to Windsor when Protektorat won (in the Fleur De Lys Chase last month), he was absolutely buzzing all the way home. I’m so glad went for one big last day, you’d have thought we’d won at Cheltenham.

“He’d have loved this today, he loved all the big days, he’s loved having horses with (Sir) Alex (Ferguson) and Ged (Mason) and with Dan, Paul (Nicholls) and Olly (Murphy). He was living his dream.

“He loved all animals, he used to train RAF dogs and we’ve always had dogs, he loved all the horses and I used to have to tell him to be careful all the time but he said they wouldn’t hurt him and they never did!”

Dan Skelton was also delighted to have secured victory in the Hales’ silks.

He said: “His jumping is really good, this is an important race and it was even more important today because he was running in John’s colours and that is the Hales first winner since John passed.

“It’s a pretty poignant success given what John meant to our family. They are unbelievable supporters of all horse sports. I’m sure we’ll hear about his life history in the build-up to his funeral.

“He is a really good two-miler. He’s got the speed to jump at that pace and I thought those two went really quick there.

“He was superior from the back of three out to the last and then he probably got a bit tired and had a bit of a blow, which made it look a bit harder work than it really was.

“That will put him spot on and I’m just really happy with him. He was fit today, there’s room for improvement but I couldn’t have blamed fitness had he got beat.”

Skelton added: “He’s going to the Arkle having had four runs, Sir Gino has had one and might have another and Majborough has had two but ability supersedes experience a lot of the time.

“I don’t think we lack ability, though, I think this is a very, very good horse, he’s won two Grade Twos and a Grade 1. We’ll be going full of hope, we’re not expecting to win but we’re going there hoping to.

“It’s a red-hot Arkle, one of the highlights of the week.”