Emmet Mullins pulled off another masterstroke as Slate Lane ran away with the £150,000 Betfair “Serial Winners” Stayers’ Handicap Hurdle at Haydock.

Owned by Paul Byrnes, the man behind so many of Mullins’ breakthrough horses, Slate Lane was winning for the fourth time in succession.

Donagh Meyler always looked in complete control on the 11-4 favourite and he survived a messy jump at the last to win in style.

What would have made the result all the more satisfying for the trainer was that back in second, a length and a half away, was Fine Margin, trained by his uncle and champion trainer, Willie.

There was some concern after the race, however, as the winner returned with a nasty looking cut on his leg.

Before walking back to the stable yard to see to the injury Mullins said: “He’s won four in a row now so it’s great, it’s all come together.

“To be honest since he crossed the line at Cartmel in a maiden hurdle this was the plan and it was about getting him here on a reasonable mark and it’s come off.

“Everything went well. I thought there might not be much pace so I said to Donagh to line up wide and see how it unfolds and he was wise to it, he did the right thing letting him off.

“He’s very straightforward and as long as he keeps winning we’re happy enough.”

Byrne added: “It’s unbelievable, I’m delighted. He’s a great horse to win four in a row.

“Donagh was brilliant on him, he’s a cracking rider and I can’t understand why he doesn’t get more opportunities at home. He’s been very lucky for us.

“This was the plan. When you have a three-miler this was the one you are aiming for because there’s nothing else worth this much, it’s not like with a two-miler.

“I don’t think we’ll qualify for the Pertemps, but he is still a novice, whether he’s that good I don’t know.

“The cut is a little bit worrying, Emmet has followed the horse down and he doesn’t normally do that. It’s a bit concerning, Emmet didn’t like it.”

Kamsinas built on the promise of his previous outing when landing the Betfair Racing Podcasts Newton Novices’ Hurdle.

Trained by Fergal O’Brien, the six-year-old had gone close in Grade Two company at Cheltenham behind Neil King’s Lookaway and when the winner ran a big race in the Greatwood Hurdle afterwards, O’Brien knew he had a nice youngster on his hands.

He was taking on a couple of well-regarded types in Henry Daly’s Bowenspark and the Lucinda Russell-trained Primoz, but they could not live with Kamsinas (16-5) in the straight.

Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero’s Making Headway tried to make a race of it, but still went down by a length and a quarter behind Paddy Brennan on the winner.

O’Brien said: “We were very hopeful – I’m never confident – as he’d been working well and was very unlucky at Cheltenham when he got stopped in his run.

“That form was franked by the winner and what I loved about him there was he threw himself over the last showing a great will to win.

“I’m delighted with him, he’s a super little horse. We’ll all sit and have a chat about what next but we thought something like this was in him. We need these days.

“It’s a long road to Cheltenham in March and hopefully there’ll be a lot of races before then. I think he’ll get further and he’s already shown he handles Cheltenham.”

Dan Skelton hopes the handicapper does not get too carried away after Real Stone coasted to victory in the betting.betfair.com Handicap Chase.

When his two main market rivals, Cheddleton and Pay The Piper, dropped away, the 15-8 favourite coasted to a 20-length win under Harry Skelton.

Skelton said: “The first thing I have to say is that I hope the other two are OK because they clearly haven’t given their true running, they are good horses on their day.

“When you’ve been having a bit of a run like we have, when there’s nothing wrong with them but winners are not exactly flowing, it’s nice to enjoy one like that.

“We’ll go quietly with him, he’s not had loads of racing and he probably has to go left-handed which rules out those Ascot races, but we hope to end up in something like the Red Rum (at Aintree).”

Stuart Crawford ran two in the Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdle, both owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, and with Daryl Jacob unable to get down to 10st 3lb on Park Annonciade it was left to Ben Bromley to do the steering.

Son of the racing manager of the owners, Anthony Bromley, his 5lb allowance took his weight down even lower, the 3-1 joint-favourite beating Stainsby Girl by two and three-quarter lengths.

“I’m delighted to ride a winner on a big day like this, it’s huge for me,” said Bromley.

“I’m also delighted for Stuart, he’s a great trainer and is a big part of Simon and Isaac’s team, who I must also thank for the opportunities they keep giving me.”

Slate Lane will bid for an imperious four-timer in the Betfair “Serial Winners” Stayers’ Handicap Hurdle, as Emmet Mullins attempts to get his hands on another major handicap prize at Haydock on Saturday.

Unbeaten since joining the Grand National-winning trainer in the summer, the five-year-old has been no stranger to British shores, making three successful raids at some of the minor tracks.

He now steps up in class for his toughest assignment to date in a race won by some fine operators over the years.

“He’s been good and won three out of three. He’s doing everything right,” said Mullins.

“It’s a big ask to win four on the bounce, but hopefully he can run well at least.

“We’re very hopeful, we’ve not done much at home with him (since his last run) and we even gave him a run in a charity race in between to keep him ticking over and all is good.”

Disputing favouritism for the £125,000 contest is Fergal O’Brien’s Crambo, who won a competitive renewal of the EBF Final at Sandown in March and got the better of the reopposing Santos Blue when making a successful return at Aintree last month.

Always held in high regard, this event will give a decent indication of what calibre of performer Crambo really is.

“We’re excited to go to Haydock,” said O’Brien. “He finished very well last year, winning the EBF Final, and although it didn’t happen for him at Aintree in the spring, he came back out at Aintree and ran a lovely race there.

“It’s a step up to three miles and it will answer a lot of questions and tell us where to go from there.

“He’s got a lot of weight on Saturday, so if he runs well off that, we know he’s a good horse, it is just whether he is a handicapper or a Graded horse. Hopefully, Saturday will tell us.”

Little separated Alan King’s Emitom and Nicky Henderson’s Bold Endeavour when they finished second and third at Newbury recently and both are consistent performers in these contests, while Willie Mullins will also saddle a raider from Ireland in the form of the reappearing Fine Margin.

Meanwhile, Dubrovnik Harry will attempt to leave a disappointing 2022-23 season well behind and build on his encouraging comeback fourth at Cheltenham last month.

“We were pleased with his reappearance and he gets to go again off the same mark,” said trainer Harry Fry.

“It’s a competitive field, as you would expect for the prize-money on offer.

“Last year didn’t happen for him, but we’re hoping he can go and give a good account of himself.”

The likes of Politologue, Clan Des Obeaux and Bravemansgame have all previously won the Betfair Exchange Graduation Chase and there could be another high-class winner with a top-quality field of five assembled for action.

Cheltenham Festival winner and Grand National third Gaillard Du Mesnil is the proven performer over fences, but there are some unknown quantities full of potential amongst the opposition, none more so than Lucinda Russell’s Apple Away.

The Old Gold Racing-owned mare scooped Grade One honours at Aintree in the spring and has now been pitched in at the deep-end for her chasing bow, with connections dreaming she will make an immediate impression in her new discipline.

“We’re very much looking forward to it and the confidence coming from Lucinda and Scu (Peter Scudamore) is heartening,” said James Day, chief operating officer and co-founder of Old Gold Racing.

“You can really see their confidence in her, given the race she has been declared for, which is a pretty big one for going over fences for the first time.

“She’s had a few entries over the last few weeks and they’ve been very sensible with their approach to make sure she gets off on the right foot, that’s really important.

“Winning the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle was amazing and she is showing in her training that she has all the makings of a proper chaser, although the proof is always in the pudding.”

Dan Skelton also has high hopes for Grey Dawning, who strung a three-race winning sequence together over hurdles last term and was not disgraced on his chasing bow when bumping into Paul Nicholls’ Stay Away Fay.

“We’re happy with him and obviously he is coming back quickly (after Exeter), but I don’t think that will be a problem,” said Skelton.

“He needed the run a little bit at Exeter and I was very happy with the way he jumped and did everything that day. He just took a little bit of a blow and Stay Away Fay and the other horse got the better of him late on, which is an acceptable first run.

“It’s quite a competitive race, but it wants to be for £50,000 at the end of the day. It would be very easy to go for a standard novice chase somewhere and maybe he does that later in the season if he needs to.

“We would just prefer to take on some bigger and better races and see where we get to – and he will be getting some experience under his belt.”

The action on Merseyside begins with the Grade Two Betfair Racing Podcasts Newton Novices’ Hurdle, where Henry Daly’s Bowenspark could enhance his burgeoning reputation.

“He did it nicely at Stratford and let’s hope he can do it again,” said Daly.

“Like when you start with all these things, you have got to find out as you go along how you are getting on.

“He won a couple of bumpers and was probably a bit unlucky at Aintree. The form looks very solid, so hopefully he continues to progress.”