The first two days of this week saw Josh Gifford increase his prize money for the season by more than 25 per cent.

Hot on the heels of Lordbernieboufant winning the £13,650 Sussex National at Fontwell, Mr Percy made a winning first appearance over fences to pick up £3,630 at Leicester on Tuesday.

The Findon trainer now has two more candidates for major races.

Ridden by Philip Hide, eight-year-old Lordbernieboufant got up on the flat at Fontwell to beat the favourite, Smarty, in the second running of the Victor Chandler-sponsored three-and-a-half mile race.

Gifford said: "He could be an Aintree horse one day, although this season's target is more likely to be the Scottish National at Ayr in April."

The plan would suit the syndicate that owns Lordbernieboufant,The Marvellous Partnership, as the horse spends his summer holidays in Scotland at the home of the group's leader Raymond Anderson Green.

Running over a distance too short for him, Mr Percy scored in the two-mile Groby Chase at Leicester to earn his place in the Arkle Chase for novices at Cheltenham in March.

By contrast with his winner the previous day, Hide took the lead four fences from home and just managed to hold off the challenge of Errand Boy, trained in Yorkshire by Harvey Smith's wife Sue.

Mr Percy has come to chasing late in life as the ten-year-old has enjoyed a lucrative career over hurdles. Third recently at Cheltenham to Champion Hurdle contenders Geos and Barton, Mr Percy is always going to find a couple too good for him in the Grade One races but is certainly capable of picking up notable prizes over fences.

Gifford said: "His owner is away on holiday and never likes his horses running when he cannot see them. But Mr Percy, who needs at least two more outings before Cheltenham if he is to run in the Arkle, simply had to be an exception, so it is just as well that he won."