SHOCK ARKLE winner Western Warhorse gets the chance to prove his Cheltenham success was no fluke when he steps up in trip for the Pinsent Masons Manifesto Novices’ Chase at Aintree today.

The David Pipe-trained sixyear- old headed to the Festival with just one run over fences to his name and was sent off at 33-1 in the nine-runner field.

Having attempted to go with Champagne Fever through the early stages, he looked like being swallowed up coming down the hill but stuck to his task doggedly.

A place still looked like the best he could hope for jumping the last, but owner Roger Brookhouse’s decision to pitch him into Grade One company was justified as Western Warhorse got up on the line for a famous victory.

He steps up to two and a half miles on Merseyside but jockey Tom Scudamore does not see that as an issue.

‘‘As he’s won a point-topoint (over three miles) I can’t see two and a half miles around Aintree being an issue,’’ said Scudamore.

‘‘We just thought that two and a half on a flat track might suit him better as he was staying on really strongly at the end of a very strongly run two miles on an undulating track.

‘‘The way he won was great, just getting up on the line, it all added to the drama.

‘‘The horse proved Roger right. He wanted to run him in the Arkle more than David and he’s only six, you’d like to think there’s more to come.’’ At the other end of the scale Alan King’s Uxizandre had victory snatched away from him after the last at Cheltenham.

He jumped for fun at the head of affairs in the JLT Novices’ Chase only to be reeled in close home by Taquin Du Seuil.

‘‘He surpassed our expectations at Cheltenham, where he seemed to relish the new riding tactics and never missed a beat all the way round,’’ said King.