Racing:Monet's Garden bounced back to his very best to land the feature Melling Chase under a confident ride from Tony Dobbin at Aintree.
The Nicky Richards-trained 4-1 shot was always travelling with enthusiasm and took up the running as the field approached the third-last fence.
Dobbin made use of his stamina and kicked on at that point, and while Taranis (5-1) chased him all the way to the line, he could only get to within three and a half lengths.
Well Chief was sent off the 4-5 favourite but began to tire late on and faded into third, a further nine lengths behind the principals after travelling well for much of the race.
Speaking afterwards Richards said: "That was grand, wasn't it?
"He didn't come home from Cheltenham 100 per cent and he scoped dirty, but I don't want to take anything away from the horses who won that day.
"This horse has changed so much in the last 10 days with some sun on his back.
"Fair play to his owner David Yates - he wanted to come here but I was ready to rough him off after Cheltenham.
"Over two and a half miles on a flat track it will take a fair horse to beat him. When he is good, he is very good."
His second victory in Grade One company over fences brings the curtain down on Monet's Garden's campaign, but a return to Aintree in the autumn is a distinct possibility.
Dunbrody Millar gained handsome compensation for just missing the cut in tomorrow's Grand National by winning the Topham Handicap Chase.
The 25-1 shot, trained by Peter Bowen and ridden by Jamie Moore, was always prominent and won by six lengths
Theatre Knight (66-1) was second, with Latimer's Place (25-1) two and a half lengths away in third. Ground Ball was fourth (12-1).
Earlier Mick Fitzgerald ran a perfectly-timed race to bring Chief Dan George a win in the Citroen C6 Sefton Novices' Hurdle.
The veteran jockey bided his time as Massini's Maguire and Wichita Lineman battled it out a long way from the finish.
The race became a real stamina test and Chief Dan George (20-1), trained by James Moffatt, swamped 4-6 favourite Wichita Lineman on the run-in to win by four lengths, with Imperial Commander a further 18 lengths back in third.
Fitzgerald said: "My horse is a bit of a thinker and as soon as I squeezed him I thought if I give him a belt now he would curl up underneath me and stop.
"Then I saw light at the end of the tunnel and he really picked up. He's a horse that saves a bit for himself."
Trainer Jonjo O'Neill said of the runner-up: "He's run well and done everything right but he's just been beaten by a better horse on the day.
Aces Four made up for his Cheltenham faux pas with a spectacular
display to take the field apart in the Grade Two Mildmay
Novices' Chase.
The eight-year-old was giving Denman a race when crashing
through the third-last in the Royal & SunAlliance Chase, a
mistake which put paid to his chances and saw him weaken to fourth.
But with 30 days to freshen up, the Ferdy Murphy-trained 5-2
favourite tanked round the Mildmay course in the hands of Graham
Lee to collect by an eased-down eight lengths.
The winner put in some great leaps to see off Faasel and Dom
D'Orgeval and is now a standout 33-1 with Paddy Power for next
season's totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup.