Willoughby Court© Photo Healy Racing
Willoughby Court saw off the late challenge of Yanworth to claim top honours in the Ladbrokes Novices' Chase at Newbury.
The Ben Pauling-trained Willoughby Court rounded off last season by claiming Cheltenham Festival glory in the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle, but did not entirely convince with his jumping when making a successful fencing debut at Huntingdon last month.
Yanworth, a dual Grade One-winning hurdler for Alan King, also had questions to answer after falling on his second chase start at Exeter, but he was favourite at odds of 5-6 to claim a Grade Two prize registered as the Berkshire Novices' Chase.
Western Miller led the five-strong field early on, before Nico de Boinville sent 15-8 chance Willoughby Court to the front racing down the back straight.
While Willoughby Court was more assured at his fences on this occasion, Yanworth was again far from fluent and looked beaten rounding the home turn.
To his credit, the JP McManus-owned chestnut responded to Barry Geraghty's urgings to close the gap, but Willoughby Court never looked in serious danger of being caught and passed the post three lengths to the good.
Willoughby Court was adding his name to an illustrious roll of honour in the Grade Two contest that includes three subsequent Cheltenham Gold Cup heroes in Denman (2006), Bobs Worth (2011) and Coneygree (2014).
De Boinville said: "He jumped as straight as anything today. He was just novicey at Huntingdon. Draw a line through that. He's been schooling well back at home and I didn't come here thinking there would be any problems. That's just public perception.
"He's very good and showed me a few gears there as well. I was umming and ahhing about whether he was a three-miler, but I think you'd have to stick at two and a half.
"He'll come on for the run again, I'd say. It's a great start."
Pauling said: "That was really good. He was clever when he needed to be and was brave at a couple of fences when he needed to be as well.
"He wasn't worried like he was at Huntingdon and that was so good to see. I'm thrilled.
"This is still as short as he wants on a flat track. It was a great ride from Nico. He is exceptional.
"We'll probably stay at two and a half miles and look maybe towards the Dipper (Novices' Chase) at Cheltenham (January 1st). It won't hurt him to go there.
"It's fabulous for everyone involved. It's so nice to have such a good horse."
