Master bounces back in style

MASTER MINDED appointed himself as a King George replacement for the deposed Kauto Star after collecting his eighth top-level prize in the John Smith’s Melling Chase at Aintree.

Age finally caught up with Kauto Star at Kempton in January when he could not deliver a fifth consecutive victory in the race for trainer Paul Nicholls and owner Clive Smith but those connections had an immediate idea to claim it back from the triumphant Long Run.

This was a replay of the Master Minded of old, the powerful French-bred who has terrorised the two-mile division since the spring of 2008.