Inothewayurthinkin (6/4 Favourite) continued his ascendancy when leading home a 1-2 for owner JP McManus in the Grade One Huyton Asphalt Franny Blennerhassett Memorial Mildmay Novices' Chase, the opening contest at Aintree today.

Homebred by McManus’ wife Noreen, the winner is a full-brother to Limerick Lace, who lines up in tomorrow’s Randox Grand National. Today he came home the four-length winner from Iroko.

Winning trainer Gavin Cromwell said: “His jumping definitely left a bit to be desired, but he clearly has a big engine. He looked to do plenty wrong but still won, which is always nice to see. Clearly he stays well. I’m delighted with the result, anyway.

“That’s it for the season with him. He’s up into big boy company next year and we’ll see how that goes - he’s going to have to brush up on his jumping, but he could do.

“He’s a Grade 1 winner so it is the obvious thing to go, and we’ll see how that goes.”

Improvement to come

Winning rider Mark Walsh added: “I was happy enough with where I was, but I made a mistake at the third-last and the second-last, so I was lucky that I had a good enough horse to get me out of trouble. He’s only a novice and he’s only going to improve.

“I didn’t think I could win until the last - he had a good run down to it and picked up well, in fairness to him, and got his head in front going to the last. He’s a very good horse and improving all the time, so hopefully he will keep improving. We’ll have to see how he fares [in open Grade 1 company next year - you never know until you try, but we’ll look forward to it.

“JP [McManus] has some great novice chasers [at this time] to look forward to next season.”

Runner-up

Oliver Greenall, who trains the runner-up Iroko (9/2) along with Josh Guerriero, said: “We were worried that we would lose the season and that we would have no experience going into next season. To get two runs out of him (since coming back from injury) is unbelievable. He just gallops, and around here it is probably a bit too sharp for him, and we probably bumped into one.

“Jonjo (O’Neill Jr) just felt he was stuck down the inner. He probably wouldn’t have won, but he felt like he didn’t get a clear enough run up the home straight. He travelled into it, but then he was flat out. He just stays.

"He jumps so well. When he is flat out he still jumps so well. He was tight into the last, but he still got away with it. That was only his third run of the season, but it is fairly tacky ground out there, and he was tired today. He wasn’t tired after Cheltenham at all, but he looks more tired today. We will maybe go to what was the Hennessy next season, but he could go to Punchestown (at the end of this season).”

No hard luck stories here

Henry De Bromhead , trainer of the third Heart Wood (5/1), said: “I was delighted with the run. He might have just petered out at the end, but I’m delighted with it as he jumped brilliantly.

“The race went really well and he was just beaten by better horses so there are no excuses. I think that will be it for the season. I think coming over here is enough for him. There will be no rush with him and we will get him back for next season. I would probably drop him back in trip next season as he is still only six. We might drop back for a bit, as he has got a bit of class, then go up in trip again on better ground. I don’t think we are far off with him.”