Racing: Celestial Gold, ridden by Timmy Murphy, capitalised on a last-fence error by Take The Stand to seal victory in the Betfair Bowl.
The Martin Pipe trained winner, an 8-1 shot, held off the challenge of Take the Stand and 5-2 favourite L'ami to take the feature race on the first day of the Grand National meeting in Liverpool.
Fans of Beef or Salmon endured another disappointment across the Irish Sea as the Michael Hourigan trained challenger unseated Paul Carberry early on.
In an eventful race, My Will fell at the first then Beef Or Salmon gave Carberry no chance of staying in the saddle after a mistake before halfway.
Meanwhile, Ollie Magern and See You Sometime took the field along until L'Ami made his bid for glory before the fourth-last, with Take The Stand challenging and Celestial Gold stalking that pair.
Despite making a minor mistake at the second-last, Celestial Gold always looked the likely winner in the closing stages, although Take The Stand was still battling on and in with a shout when he almost catapulted Tony Dobbin out of the saddle at the final fence, ruining his chance.
Dobbin made a remarkable recovery and Take The Stand kept on for second place.
Katarino completed back-to-back victories in the John Smith's Fox Hunters' Chase - run over the Grand National fences - despite having his first start since winning this race 12 months ago.
The 11-2 shot went to the front under Sam Waley-Cohen after the fifth-last fence where Abbeytown and Drombeag came down.
The 11-year-old ran on strongly and came home seven lengths clear of Christy Beamish (8-1), with 100-1 shot Beachcomber Bay 15 lengths further away in third.
Earlier, Mighty Man turned the tables on Ladbrokes World Hurdle winner My Way De Solzen to win the opening race.
The six-year-old finished third behind Alan King's charge at Cheltenham but, in receipt of 4lb from his big rival, produced a telling burst of speed on the run-in here to land the John Smith's And Flixton Conservative Club Liverpool Hurdle at odds of 11-4.
Runner-up My Way De Solzen, the 6-4 favourite, again ran with credit and finished seven lengths adrift of the Richard Johnson-ridden winner, while No Refuge (16-1) stayed on for third place, 13 lengths further in arrears.
Detroit City enhanced his growing reputation to justify favouritism in The Sportsman Anniversary 4-Y-O Novices' Hurdle.
Hobbs' JCB Triumph Hurdle hero put up a faultless display of jumping to land the spoils at 3-1 from off a fast pace and earn Johnson a 14-1 double for the afternoon.
Runner-up Premier Dane returned to form by finishing eight lengths away from the winner, while Afsoun was another three lengths away in third in the Grade One contest.