Reunification Day was a day for the chasers in the trainers' championship, with leader John Moore drawing a blank while Caspar Fownes renewed his slim hopes with a pair and Nash Rawiller gave a perfect display on High Warrior to claw one back for second-placed John Size.
Size is now three behind Moore with 31 races to be decided and a step up in distance and Rawiller's cool ride made the difference for High Warrior, who promises to be a handy bread and butter type of stayer for the yard next season.
Rawiller played his first ace when he got High Warrior cleanly from the gates - which hadn't been happening - and planted him just behind the speed.
He played his second mid-contest, when the pace was slack enough to draw some sharp moves around the field from the back runners and the Australian rider read the play perfectly.
"I wasn't going to get sucked into going with them and it suited me anyway putting a bit of speed into it," Rawiller said. "He doesn't really want a stop-start kind of race so I just held my place at that stage and let them go around. The penny hasn't quite dropped with him yet but he was strong at the finish of the 2,000m."
Size said he was more than happy with High Warrior's progress, winning a race at just his fifth race start.
"For a staying horse, he's found his way to the winner's stall relatively quickly - they usually take a bit longer than that, so it gives you confidence that he will find opportunities in the future and he's the sort of horse every stable needs," he said.
"Nash gave him a good ride and he got him out of the gates quite quickly. Previously, he's been in shorter races and been slow away and if he doesn't jump, he doesn't travel and then he has the job ahead, but he wanted the longer distance too."
