'He's one of the exciting ones' - bright future for General Medrano after feature success

Emma Lavelle hopes an exciting season lies ahead for one of her yard favourites after General Medrano confirmed his aptitude for fences with success in the feature 2m½f handicap chase.

The six-year-old made it 2-2 over fences in decisive fashion, pulling away at the line to score by three lengths from In The Air under Tom Bellamy.

With his perfect chase record enhancing Lavelle's impressive 35 per cent strike-rate over the past two weeks, the trainer is already eyeing more valuable targets in the months ahead.

"His first run over fences was at Uttoxeter going left on nice-ish ground, and here he's gone right-handed – he's just very versatile and is a great jumper," she said. "I hope we're still only scratching the surface with him.

"We thought if he could win a race like this then we can just dream a little bit and look at some of those good two and two-and-a-half mile chases. He's definitely going in the right direction and he's one of the exciting ones for the season."

The win was particularly welcome for Lavelle due to her fondness for General Medrano, who she rides out every morning.

"He's heavenly, he's such a good boy," she added. "He has enormous floppy ears and they're a great pair to look through every morning, I'm very lucky."

Surrey success

Two former names at Seven Barrows teamed up for success in the 2m7½f handicap chase as 11-2 shot Surrey Quest swept to victory under Kevin Brogan.

The six-year-old was making his first start since leaving Nicky Henderson's operation and came home a wide-margin winner for Toby Lawes, who served as Henderson's assistant trainer for five years before sending out his own runners in 2019.

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