NEWBURY SHOCKS CLOUD FESTIVAL PICTURE

Newbury`s star-studded meeting on Saturday confused the picture for the Cheltenham Festival rather than providing concrete clues.

First Gold was the biggest name to bite the dust on a day of glorious jumps racing that had bookmakers constantly revising Festival prices.

The French ace remains favourite for the Tote Gold Cup but at a longer price after his shock reverse in the Aon Chase.

The Queen Mother Champion Chase favourite Flagship Uberalles was also been surprisingly beaten at the hands of the impressive Function Dream while the meeting kicked off with the eclipse of leading Royal & SunAlliance Chase contender Behrajan.

And the ante-post price compilers had more work to do as Landing Light obliged in the Stg£100,000 Tote Gold Trophy to give trainer Nicky Henderson his third success in the last four runnings of Europe`s richest handicap hurdle.

First Gold was racing for the first time since his spectacular triumph in the Pertemps King George VI Chase.

He was watched by his new owner JP McManus who had bought the horse for a sum reportedly in excess of Stg£500,000 after his last race.

Unfortunately the 1-3 favourite was unable to cope with the novice Shotgun Willy.

First Gold`s price was pushed out to as high as 7-2 with Ladbrokes for the Gold Cup after the defeat.

But trainer Francois Doumen insisted there was nothing to worry about regarding the eight-year-old`s chances for Cheltenham.

'I announced beforehand that he would need the run, though I would obviously have preferred it if he`d won,' he said.

'This race will put him right for the Gold Cup and better ground will be help. He wasn`t able to use his acceleration in these conditions.'

Mary Reveley is still searching for her first Festival success but Function Dream will go to the meeting with a solid chance in the Queen Mother Chase after thumping Flagship Uberalles.

The progressive mare registered her fifth victory in a row as she overturned Flagship Uberalles (8-13) by 17 lengths in the Mitsubishi Shogun Game Spirit Chase.

Function Dream is a 4-1 chance with Coral and Ladbrokes for the Cheltenham two-miler but Flagship Uberalles remains the favourite at a best price of 3-1.

The connections of Behrajan insisted he needed the run after the 8-13 chance was thwarted by Frantic Tan in the cantorindex.com Novices` Chase.

Behrajan was pushed out to 12-1 (Ladbrokes and Coral) for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase while Frantic Tan is 16-1 (Ladbrokes) for the same race.