The ground might have been dead but Conor O'Dwyer and Native Upmanship set hearts pumping with a brilliant repeat success in the Melling Chase.

Thriving over his perfect trip and on ground riding a lot easier than the official "good", Native Upmanship treated his rivals with more than a little contempt to end up beating Seebald by a length.

To use the cliché, he was value for a lot more and it's not often Tony McCoy has to settle for second with quite so confident a rider in front of him.

O'Dwyer has seen most that racing has to offer during his 36 years and, knowing the real deal underneath him, the jockey was cheeky-style personified.

"He didn't say anything to me - not on the run-in anyway!" O'Dwyer joked before describing the Arthur Moore-trained winner as "awesome".

Other words were tripping through Moore's mind and he grinned: "The jockey enjoyed it more than me. I would have preferred to get further away from Mr McCoy but Conor knew he had the horse under him."

Native Upmanship will be aimed at the Heineken Gold Cup at Punchestown but a similar campaign is again likely next season.

"He's top class and I can't see why we can't get two more good seasons out of him. He's the best two-and-a-half-miler I've had: the best most people have had," Moore added.

Kadarann and Cenkos were third and fourth but their trainer, Paul Nicholls, was unhappy with the ground.

"It's soft ground - that's it basically. They've over-watered and it's ended the chances of my horses," he complained.

The horses did find it tough going in most of the races on the Mildmay track and only Iris's Gift looked to be galloping strongly at the end of the Grade One Sefton Hurdle.

It was a pretty impressive gallop too and the Stayers' Hurdle runner-up completed a treble for Jonjo O'Neill by eight lengths from Royal Emperor.

In behind, Hardy Eustace was beaten before the turn in and was a very distant fifth, while Pizarro exited at the fifth, leaving Norman Williamson to give up his remaining ride.

However, there was no doubt the "good" going verdict on the National track looked more realistic and the 19 finishers will ease some concerns the connections of fast-ground horses in today's big race might have had.

It was Clan Royal who scored in the Topham for O'Neill and JP McManus and the team foiled a major gamble on Macs Gildoran, who went off a 5 to 1 favourite.

The Irish horse looked a real danger at the last but Liam Cooper powered the former Arthur Moore-trained winner clear off the elbow.

"Brilliant to watch," grinned O'Neill, who had earlier sent out another McManus-owned winner, Master Tern, in the opener.

"I couldn't ride the place when I was a jockey but it's nice to train one or two here," he added.

Master Tern was ridden by Tony Dobbin, who made it a quick double in the Grade Two novices' hurdle on the Venetia Williams-trained Limerick Boy.

Glenhaven Nugget looked good for an Irish success in this but made a mistake at the third-last and found little afterwards.