Sire De Grugy back on winning trail at Lingfield

Sire De Grugy: Lingfield winner

Gary Moore's Sire De Grugy beat market rival Cantlow to the lingfieldpark.co.uk Novices' Chase on Tuesday afternoon.

The 4/6 favourite was a length-and-three-quarters ahead of Paul Webber's 2/1 chance at the line after he took control of the contest in the straight.

Sent off at odds-on after a good second to Captain Conan in a Cheltenham Grade 2 only nine days ago, the six-year-old was a little bit keen, wasn't always fluent at his fences but jumped better as the race wore on.

His best leaps were reserved for the final two fences and Jamie Moore pushed him out for a comfortable success despite his 7lb penalty for winning at Kempton.

Cantlow was outpaced in the straight but stayed on again under AP McCoy to finish closer than had looked likely with a furlong to run.

The winning handler told At The Races: " I was very pleased with him, everything went to plan, he's got bags of scope. He was a bit keener than I'd like but he's got a bit more experience. He'll run on the 27 (December) at Kempton (for the Grade 2 registered as the Wayward Lad Novices' Chase)."

Winning jockey Jamie Moore said: "He was a bit keen, but jumped fantastic bar three out. He finished a bit tired but had a very hard race at Cheltenham.

"He's won his two novice races now so we can start making plans for him. He's a two-miler through and through - he's got a hell of a lot of speed."