First Flow scores surprise Clarence House success at Ascot as Buveur D’Air beaten on return at Haydock

First Flow gave Kim Bailey and David Bass a surprise Grade 1 winner as he beat a high-class field to land the Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

The nine-year-old was sent off a 14/1 outsider against the likes of Champion Chase winner Politologue, King George runner-up Waiting Patiently and two-time Cheltenham Festival winner Defi Du Seuil.

But after taking on the front-running Politologue down the back-straight, First Flow came home strongest to seal a seven-length success, with Waiting Patiently in third.

Defi Du Seuil, on something of a retrieval mission after disappointing on each of his last two starts, travelled strongly through the race but eventually finished a distant fifth.

Elsewhere on Saturday, two-time Champion Hurdler Buveur D’Air made his return from a 420-day absence in the Unibet The New One Hurdle at Haydock but was beaten as an odds-on favourite by Navajo Pass.

On the same card, Royal Pagaille enhanced his growing reputation with a superb 16-length victory in the Peter Marsh Handicap Chase, though trainer Venetia Williams would not be drawn on whether he may now line-up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup come March.

Dan Skelton’s Roksana was another to confirm her Festival credentials with a classy success in the Matchbook Betting Podcast Mares’ Hurdle at Ascot, beating 2019 Grand National runner-up Magic Of Light by eight lengths.