Ellison makes grade with Marsh Warbler

Due to the presence of Paul Nicholls's Sam Winner and Alan King's Smad Place, Bangor and Sedgefield winner Marsh Warbler was allowed to go off at 8-1 but he bounced clear of the field with a brilliant final-flight leap.

Ellison said: "We knew he was a good horse, but when you go down south and take on the big boys you're not sure what will happen.

"He's done it the hard way and the softer ground is a big plus for him. That's the first Grade One for the yard and it's great. I've spoken to the guys on track and they're all happy and crying.

"We'll look to the Triumph Hurdle now but if it came up fast, he wouldn't run.

"If it's good to soft, he'll probably take his chance but if it's quick, we might just wait for Aintree or if that didn't happen then there's Punchestown. The horse comes first.

"He's had a hard enough slog, so if he's going to Cheltenham he'll go straight there. He jumped fantastically all the way through. He always schooled like that and we thought he was a certainty first time out at Market Rasen but he got a fright at the first and somehow got beaten."

Delighted part-owner Dan Gilbert said: "I've had 20-odd winners so far but this is the best by a mile. Brian's always very optimistic but he's a brilliant trainer on jumps and Flat. If the ground was soft at Cheltenham, he'd be the one to beat."

Aidan Coleman got a great tune out of Silver Kate (2-1), who put up a fantastic performance from the front to fend off 13-8 favourite Voramar Two in the Get Best Odds Guaranteed At coral.co.uk Beginners' Chase.

The grey mare is one of two horses in training for Abergavenny trainer David Richards, who said: "I don't know why she didn't jump so well last time – we only have a couple of fences at home so maybe it was just experience.

"We haven't looked further than today really. The real dream is winning next year's Welsh National!"

Silver Kate has a tough act to follow with this season's Welsh National seeing the incomparable AP McCoy land his first win in the race.

The Jonjo O'Neill-trained 5-1 chance Synchronised stayed on best under the power-packed McCoy drive to see off long-time leader Giles Cross, giving the 15-time champion jockey a 'grand slam' of Nationals – emulating Belmont King (1997 Scottish National), Butler's Cabin (2007 Irish National) and last year's Aintree hero Don't Push It.

McCoy said: "I've won the English, Irish and now Welsh Nationals for Jonjo and JP (McManus), so that's very special. But you always want to win all the good races.

"Anything before is history, you might as well be someone who hasn't won it. Mind you, as a lot of people have been reminding me ever since Aintree, I'm probably not going to have many more chances to win these races."

Synchronised leapt towards the head of the market for the John Smith's Grand National but with O'Neill not present, future plans were unclear. McCoy warned: "He took a long time to learn how to jump normal fences and he doesn't jump out at me as a typical National horse. He might take to it, he might not.

"This was the ideal race for him. I don't know if he has the scope for the Grand National fences but he did jump better than he has ever done."

At Sandown, Minella Class stated his case as a contender for the Neptune Investment Hurdle at Cheltenham when taking the scalps of Megastar and Toubab in the 32Red Hurdle.

Mille Chief smoothly defied top weight for Alan King and Robert Thornton in the 32Red Handicap Hurdle, while Tadcaster handler Tom Tate appears to have a Cheltenham prospect on his hands as Music Of The Moor entered the Triumph Hurdle reckoning with victory in the 32Red Poker Juvenile Hurdle.