Grey Dawning made amends for his narrow defeat in last year’s Betfair Chase when sauntering to a cheeky victory in the hands of an emotional and in-form Harry Skelton.

The Harry Skelton and Dan Skelton combination have been at the forefront of National Hunt racing in recent weeks having landed a number of valuable pots and they were once again in the spotlight on the Merseyside.

Old rival Royale Pagaille took the field along from the fourth fence and looked to be enjoying himself out in front. In contrast, Rebecca Curtis' Irish Grand National Haiti Couleurs was struggling to get a cut at his fences in the early stages and after being on the backfoot for some time, Sean Bowen's mount became detached at the tenth.

Defending champion and two-time winner of the race Royale Pagaille continued to jump from fence to fence at the head of affairs under Deutsch, but Skelton and Grey Dawning were never far away and always looked to be travelling powerfully. Royale Pagaille attempted to run the finish out of Grey Dawning as the duo set off up the straight but in all truth, the result looked inevitable, with Skelton still sitting motionless on the galloping grey coming down the second last.

It wasn't until after the final fence that Skelton asked his mount to quicken up and in a matter of strides, the pair had the race in safekeeping as they crossed the line to score by a cheeky two- and three-quarter lengths at odds of 10/11.

An emotional Harry Skelton, whose wife Bridget Andrew's has just given birth to their second child, said: "It's taken 365 days for him to come and show people what he really can do.

"Last year just didn't work out when the heavens opened but today, he was brilliant. Clare and Tom (Messenger) our assistant who rides him out every day – they look after him and got him in shape for me to go out and enjoy that.

"It's all been going on – we had the birth of our daughter Anna. I'm really proud of Bridget and just really looking forward to getting home to be honest!

"Sportsmen are used to everything, high emotions, but when your wife gives birth and they are all alright that's all that matters.

"To do this on the sports field is what we want to do, and the horses are in flying form."

Dan Skelton, who was landing his second Betfair Chase after Protektorat in 2022, said: "He did everything we expected and more today. I was getting flashbacks to Protektorat two years ago.

"I thought he was going to put up a big performance today and he did just that. We are a year late for what we thought was going to happen last year, but the rain really did us in last year. It was great to watch today.

"It's an amazing day. Harry is very emotional as he's got through an incredible 48 hours as Bridget (wife) has had a baby, Anna.

"It's pinch yourself time – things you just can't make up. You can't buy these days – all the graft and all the ups and downs are all worth it.

"I'm just incredibly proud of the horse and the team. I came away from this race last year and just knew it was one that had got away from us – you just have to behave and put some manners on yourself, but we hoped to come back this year and get different ground and a different result.

Coral trimmed the winner to 16/1 (from 25s) for the Blue Riband event in March, with Skelton keen to head to Cheltenham with one run in-between.

"We are going down the Gold Cup route," said Skelton. "He definitely stays the trip. He just got in a muddle after he ran here last year as he had such a hard race. He hasn't had such a hard race today and we can just plan it out.

"He will have one run in between but is going to the Gold Cup."