Bryony Frost was all smiles as she enjoyed a Paul Nicholls-trained double in the opening two races at Ascot

Flemenstide took the first contest on the card, the Molton Brown Novices’ Hurdle, opening his account over hurdles on his debut encounter with obstacles.

The six-year-old was a bumper winner last season, but was well beaten in his last performance on the level when finishing ninth of 10 at Ayr in April – a performance he put well behind him with a three-and-a-quarter-length success at 100-30.

“He’s a big three-mile chaser, who will come into his own when he sees a fence,” Frost said.

“He’s still very babyish in his head, he’d be the sort of kid in school that’d take a lot of time to settle and find his place in the classroom.

“There’s plenty of talent there for him to use and I really liked the way that once we were out over the last he was very honest and kept to his line and picked up very smartly.”

Harry Derham, assistant trainer to Nicholls, said: “We schooled him at the start of the week on grass and thought that he was only just ready to start.

“He’s always had loads and loads of ability, it’s just taken him a while to get to the point where he was ready to get out on the the track.

“He’s still very green, but it’s encouraging to see that he can still win despite that so he’s obviously quite a talented animal.”

The team then quickly returned to the winner’s circle when Jeremy Pass cruised to an easy victory in the Ebony Horse Club Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase, after starting as the 4-5 favourite.

Facing only two rivals, the six-year-old produced a confident round of jumping to easily pull away from his opponents and cross the line four lengths to the good.

“I’ve never had such an easy experience around Ascot over fences,” Frost said.

“For such a big horse it’s a long way to communicate from brain to hooves and he is special, he’s very quick and intelligent to move his feet when he needs to.

“There wasn’t a worrying moment, maybe one long one down the back but it was just a massive confidence boost for him.

“He is the perfect stamp of a three-mile chaser, he really is, with hurdles he couldn’t even see they were there.

“He is a big lad and there’s a lot to build on, he can now start to move his career forward.”

Derham added: “His jumping won it for him, he just jumped from fence to fence really nicely.

“I’m not sure where he’ll go next, but the key to him is good ground, he doesn’t like slow ground because his breathing stops him.

“Last year he wasn’t quite seeing out his races, perhaps that was because over hurdles he couldn’t quite get a breather in, but chasing seems to bring out the best in him.”