GARY MOORE was once again the trainer to follow at Plumpton as he teamed up with his youngest son Joshua for a double.

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The Moores took the first two races on the card, on very deep ground, as The Green Ogre finally broke his duck over obstacles and Chris Pea Green continued his development over fences.

Moore is always well represented at Plumpton, operating at nearly a 20 per cent strike-rate, and as the course offer a bonus for any horse that wins there and then goes on to success at the Cheltenham Festival, at least Chris Pea Green has completed the first half of the deal.

The five-year-old was having his fifth start of the season and after meeting the likes of Court Minstrel, Un Ace and Irish Saint on his first three goes, he got off the mark last time out at the Sussex track.

Sent off the 2-1 secondfavourite behind Tango De Juilley, the result was never in doubt as he pulled 15 lengths clear of his market rivals.

“Obviously winning last time has given him confidence in his jumping,”

said the winning trainer.

“He loved it today, he’s had some tall orders, first time he ran at Cheltenham, then Ascot and jumped round them both.

“He’s done it well, he found a turn of foot from the last and he loves soft ground.

“The only chance he’d have at Cheltenham (in March) would be if it came up heavy.”

The Green Ogre has been called some names in the past having finished second or third in seven of his eight starts over timber, but that still did not stop punters piling in again.

He was sent off the 10-11 favourite and had to be kept up to his work to beat Stars Royale by a length.

“I was just pleased to get his head in front,” Moore told At The Races. “He bumped into one at Lingfield the other day (Allthegear No Idea) and got outstayed, he’s been second to Fergall in a Sussex Champion Hurdle so he’s not a bad horse.

“It’s just taken a long time to win with him, so it’s frustrating.”

The popular King Edmund (5-4 favourite) won for the second time in three days but he was made to work much harder in the J H Builders “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle than he had to at Lingfield on Saturday.

Trained by Chris Gordon, the 11-year-old is still capable of performing to a decent level over fences but having never won over hurdles until the weekend connections were keen for him to get his head in front.

As he was bucking and squealing in his paddock on Sunday morning Gordon decided to go to the well again and while Tom Cannon had to get busy in the saddle, he beat Krackatoa King by a length and a half.

“With all the money that is being poured into the veterans’ programme I’m getting very excited,” said Gordon.

Leg Iron was sent off 7-1 outsider of five in the Jean Horsburgh Memorial Handicap Chase and made nearly every yard of the running for Marc Goldstein and Sheena West.

Petit Ecoyer was a 33-1 winner of the G.E. White & Sons Agricultural Buildings Handicap Chase for trainer David Flood and jockey Dave Crosse.

Crosse’s last ‘ride’ was on the recalcitrant Mad Moose, who refused to race at Cheltenham and was forced into retirement.

The plumptonracecourse.co.uk Handicap Hurdle was won by G’dai Sydney (15-8 favourite) who was given a power-packed ride by Sean Bowen for his father, Peter.

n Barry Geraghty has spoken in glowing terms of No More Heroes after partnering him to victory in the Navan Novice Hurdle on Sunday, Having lowered the colours of Willie Mullins’ highly touted Shaneshill, trainer Gordon Elliott is quite rightly plotting a route to the Cheltenham Festival with his exciting prospect. Geraghty also offered up no excuses for Vaniteux who was second to The New One at Cheltenham on Saturday.

Writing in his blog for At The Races, Geraghty said: “He showed plenty of courage to see off Shaneshill over two and a half miles and although we were headed between the last two it was only by half a length. Gordon Elliott knows what he’s got and is already thinking about the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle over three miles at Cheltenham.”