Charlie Longsdon ended his Ascot jinx when A Vos Gardes maintained his unbeaten record with a fluent victory at the Berkshire track.

The course hasn’t proved a happy hunting ground for the Chipping Norton trainer, who went into Saturday’s meeting with just one winner from his previous 36 runners at the venue over the last five seasons.

And with Ely Brown picking up an injury in the RSA Trial Novices’ Chase and Wadswick Court being caught close home by Mountain King after being left clear by the last-flight fall of Wilde Blue Yonder in the two-mile novices’ hurdle, it looked as if he may have to endure another frustrating day.

But A Vos Gardes came to the rescue when taking the closing two-mile National Hunt Flat Race by a length from Onderun in the hands of 17-year-old Charlie Deutsch.

“That was a relief because Ascot is not one of our luckiest tracks,” said Longsdon.

“Charlie gave the youngster a fine ride and he looked to win it quite snugly in the end.

“Having won a couple of bum-pers, he will now have to be step-ped up in class.

“With Cheltenham only just over three weeks away, that might come a bit too soon for him, but we will have to look at all the opti-ons.”

Ely Brown, who was on course for the newly-named Terry Biddle-combe National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, faces a spell on the easy list after his injury.

Longsdon said: “The good news is that Ely Brown had his leg scanned at the Lambourn vets and they could not see any struc-tural/tendon damage where he struck into himself.

“It is far too early to say whether his season is now over, but I am guessing Cheltenham next month will be out of the question.

“We will see how the wound heals before making any decisions about end-of-season races.”

Longsdon was back in the winner’s enclosure at Market Rasen on Sunday when Kilcooley made an impressive debut over hurdles.

The five-year-old stormed clear between the last two flights of the novices’ hurdle over two miles and a furlong to slam Certification by 13 lengths under Noel Fehily.

The trainer commented: “Kilco-oley certainly looks an exciting prospect in the way he demolished a strong looking bunch of horses.”

And the Chipping Norton handler made it three winners in as many days when Hazy Tom and Deutsch struck at Southwell on Monday.

The eight-year-old stayed on well to beat Masterful Act by three and a half lengths in a two-mile ‘jumpers’ bumper’.