Tidal takes Carlisle prize
Tidal Wave, who was voted last season's Jumper Of the Year in France after winning three times over hurdles, gained his first success in Britain when running out an impressive winner at Carlisle.
The Jonathan Jay-trained four-year-old jumped well and took up the running going to the third last in the wbx.com World Bet Exchange Beginners' Chase.
Leighton Aspell had the 10-1 shot clear at the penultimate fence and he went away to pass the post with nine lengths to spare over Akilak, with Regal Heights a further seven lengths away in third.
Jay said: "A few people have been knocking this horse but he has shut them up I hope.
"He has done really well for us in France, he has won over £200,000 (€298,264), but we have always thought he was going to be a chaser and I could not have been more pleased with that.
"The prize money over there is very good but racing over here has a lot of character so I think we might take in both because the ground is always soft at Auteuil and he likes some cut.
"I have to say that the lads back home have done a great job with him."
Hockenheim gained his first success at Carlisle last month and Howard Johnson's charge returned to double up in the wbxtriplecrown.com Novices' Hurdle.
Tony Dobbin sent the 2-1 joint favourite to the front two out and he was soon clear.
Although he was tiring in the testing ground in the closing stages, he still had eight lengths to spare over Ballyboley with Hold The Bid a similar distance away in third place.
Hockenheim carries the colours of Graham Wylie, who said: "He is a very nice horse, he is still growing and as Tony said, he will get stronger.
"We will stay hurdling this season, but he is a chaser in the making and he will go over fences next season."
The wbx.com Committed To National Hunt Racing Graduation Chase turned into a battle of tactics with the three runners taking some time to set off after the starter released the tape.
However, the end result was as expected with the 2-5 favourite Turpin Green coming out on top under Dobbin.
Turnstile led at barely a canter on sufferance until Timmy Murphy steadied him up to let Turpin Green, who carries the Trevor Hemmings colours, go on at the fourth.
He made the rest of the running from there on before Exotic Dancer moved up to join him three out, but Turpin Green soon saw off the challenge and went away to beat him by 28 lengths with Turnstile a distance away in third.
Winning trainer Nicky Richards said: "Maybe we should have put a front runner in for him, but on paper he was always going to win if everything went right for him.
"He did very well through the summer and has been working well and we are up and running now - hopefully we will have a lot of fun with him this winter.
"I will speak to Mr Hemmings, but we may go to Ayr for a limited handicap at the end of the month now."
