The opening race of day two at Cheltenham's Open meeting resulted in a brilliant British debut by Hinterland, giving weight away to the majority of his rivals and still asserting his authority in the closing stages when beating the resilient Hollow Tree by three lengths. Hinterland jumped impeccably throughout, in the process propelling himself to the head of the Triumph Hurdle market, for which he is currently available at 11.5. According to trainer Paul Nicholls though, whatever he does as a hurdler is essentially a bonus as he is seen as a very exciting chasing prospect.

Galaxy Rock produced an impressive staying performance when easily winning the Grade 3 Rewards4Racing Handicap Chase over three miles and three furlongs, overcoming a blunder at the third fence to make steady progress throughout the race, leading turning for home and before easing clear on the run in. Galaxy Rock could develop into a National horse during the season and he will be one to keep on side in contests of that ilk. Ballyfitz and Carruthers ran excellent races in second and third respectively, but favourite Promising Anshan fell two out when holding holding little chance.

Great Endeavour landed Saturday's feature race, the PP Gold Cup, easily despite a heart-stopping blunder at the final fence. In truth, David Pipe's seven year-old never looked like falling, and improved dramatically on his sixth-placed finish in the corresponding race last season. His next task, reportedly the Hennessy Gold Cup at the end of the month, will be made tougher by a hike in the weights and and increase in trip, but a follow-up cannot be ruled out. Pipe jnr was gaining his first success in the race, somewhat stepping out of the shadow of his father Martin, who was victorious eight times in the race's previous incarnations. Quantitativeeasing ran-on well to gain second on the run-in, whilst the Ferdy Murphy-trained Divers showed that he relishes competing in big fields by finishing third.

Favourite Mon Parrain got shuffled back at crucial stages, and was looked after by Ruby Walsh, whilst last season's Jewson second, Wishfull Thinking, faded into sixth after a forceful front-running ride.

After the exploits of Grands Crus on Friday, Join Together produced a second impressive novice chase display of the meeting when winning on Saturday, in doing so giving Paul Nicholls a treble on the day. He has the makings of a chaser and should improve further, doing well under an excellent ride after making a mistake at the twelfth fence. Restless Harry, making his chasing debut, finished third with his jumping lacking any real fluency.

Moving on to Lingfield, where the first of the two listed races on the card went the way of Hunter's Light, the second leg of a double on the card for trainer Saeed bin Suroor and jockey William Buick. The three year-old has developed into a smart performer and looked to have things well under control before veering left and allowing Circument, who finished second, to get closer than had looked likely. The race has proved informative in the past, with two recent winners going on to win the Winter Derby.

Docofthebay won the first listed race of his career in the six0furlong event, in doing so showing that he is just about as good as ever at the age of seven. The strong pace suited him and he got up from Secret Witness and the unlucky Global City.

The final day of the Open meeting on Sunday again treated National Hunt fans to some stunning performances.

Al Ferof kicked off proceedings with a scintillating win on his chasing debut, travelling strongly and jumping assuredly. He is likely to take high-rank among what is a mouth-watering line-up of novices this season, with clashes against Peddlers Corss, Menorah and Grands Crus to look forward to.

Brampour made it even more of a day to remember for Paul Nicholls and his family, when winning the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle under Nicholls' conditional jockey nephew Harry Derham. The horse/rider combination had already tasted success this season in a similarly competitive affair at Ascot, and Brampour made the required improvement from that seasonal reappearance to win fairly comfortably under a confident ride. He is likely to improve further, though may now have to step up in grade after two handicap successes, but the omens are good as he became the first four year-old to win this since Detroit City in 2006.

Olofi did not enjoy the clearest of runs towards the finish, but quickened well despite scrimmaging to take second near the finish, whilst Abergavenny produced an impressive performance to finish third on just his fourth start over hurdles.

Rangitoto scored a second successive treble for Paul Nicholls when taking advantage of a handy mark over a trip that looked the bare minimum in a handicap hurdle. He only got to the front in the final 100 yards, and there looks to be much more improvement to come when upped to three miles. He reported has chasing on his agenda in the near future.

Timesawastin, trained by Evan Williams, is worthy of extra credit for sustaining his challenge as long as he did as other prominent-racers dropped away. His effort suggests a bigger performance to come, although he did himself no favours by hanging after the last fence.

Fingal Bay showed justified his tall reputation when taking his second Grade 2 novice hurdle, easily landing the odds to extend his unbeaten career start to three. He impressed with the way he recovered from a fairly bad blunder two out, and without that mistake would more than likely have won as he liked. Strictly, he probably didn't have to improve to win, but there is the promise of much more to come, over hurdles this year and most probably over fences thereafter. He currently heads the Neptune Novices' Hurdle market at 9.8.

Finally, a mention must go to Snow Fairy, who gained her second QEII Commemorative Cup at Kyoto, Japan. She looked one of the least likely winners for much of the race, having been held-up with fellow British raider Dancing Rain. However, she showed a tremendous burst of acceleration to mow the leaders down in the straight and will now again head for a repeat Hong Kong Cup bid.