Kauto second on Roan return
Monet’s Garden floored Kauto Star to land the Bonusprint.com Old Roan Chase at Aintree.
The Nicky Richards-trained grey took full advantage of the 14lb he received from last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup hero to win by one and a half lengths.
Monet’s Garden (9-4) had been left in the clear when Ashley Brook fell at the fourth-last fence.
Exotic Dancer, the only other runner, was a long way back in third.
Ashley Brook set a sensible pace with Tony Dobbin close up in second, with a gap to Kauto Star and Exotic Dancer.
There was no change in the order but the race turned dramatically when Ashley Brook came down at the cross fence.
Monet’s Garden was left 10 lengths in front of Kauto Star, whose rider Ruby Walsh was hard at work.
However, last season’s top chaser responded and cut the gap to just two lengths at the final fence.
But the concession of 14lb to the course specialist proved too much and Kauto Star could not repeat last year’s success in this race.
The first two pulled 20 lengths clear of Exotic Dancer.
Kauto Star was left unchanged at 7-4 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup with VC Bet, who cut Monet’s Garden to 6-1 from 10-1 for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Nicholls was happy with Kauto Star's seasonal debut and told BBC Sport: "It just as we thought - Monet's Garden was always going to be hard to beat at the weights.
“He’s a true stayer and wants three miles. They went a fair old gallop early on and we were never going to try and get to involved in that.
“Monet’s Garden’s a specialist two-and-a-half-mile horse. It was a great place to start off and we’ve now got a month to get him ready for Haydock (for the Betfair Chase), which is three miles.”
Dobbin could not hide his delight and said: “He’s a very genuine horse and a lovely horse to be associated with.”
Richards added: "You have to give credit to Kauto Star for coming here because that was a great performance. It was his (Monet’s Garden’s) first run of the year and it was a fabulous effort.
“We’ll have to see how he comes out of this race because we’ll either go for the Peterborough Chase or drop to two miles for the Tingle Creek.”
