Poignant win for Hitman at Aintree

HITMAN (9-1) made it third time lucky with a poignant victory in the William Hill Old Roan Limited Chase at Aintree Racecourse.

- By CHRIS WRIGHT

The success, under Freddie Gingell, saw connections donate the winning prize money of £45,560 to the Ricky Hatton Foundation.

As racing returned to the home of the Randox Grand National for the first time this season, Paul Nicholls’ nine-year-old - who had been runner-up in the Grade Two feature in 2022 and 12 months ago and was last in action when pulled up in the Aintree marathon in April - finally landed victory at Aintree on Halloween Family Day.

Under Gingell, Hitman was always travelling well just off the pace set by last year’s winner Minella Drama, but he cruised up to his rivals and hit the front coming to the final two fences.

A couple of magnificent jumps saw power to a two-length success over Master Chewy (3-1) with Minella Drama (9-1) a further length-and-a-quarter back in third.