Old Guard wins over fences

Old Guard was made to pull out all the stops to open his account over fences at the second attempt at Exeter.

Winner of both the Greatwood and the International Hurdle at Cheltenham last season, the Paul Nicholls-trained five-year-old then finished fourth to the mighty Faugheen in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton before missing the rest of the campaign.

His comeback and chasing debut at Newton Abbot earlier this month was over almost as soon as it started, with a serious mistake at the very first fence prompting Sam Twiston-Davies to swiftly pull him up.

With Old Guard none the worse, he turned out just 11 days later for the 188Bet Best Mate Beginners’ Chase and was a 1-2 favourite to reignite his career.

It was not plain sailing for the market leader, who did not always convince in the jumping department, and he looked destined for defeat after making a mess of the fourth fence from the finish.

However, to his credit, he managed to regain his momentum and reeled in Imperial Presence on the run-in to score by a neck under Nick Scholfield.

Nicholls said: “He’s won, which is what the aim of the game was today.

“He jumped a bit novicey, but to be fair to him, after the …

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