Just three National Hunt fixtures have taken place since the August two week break, and one could be forgiven for thinking owners and trainers has misread their calendars as a miserly 33 runners turned out for a warm summer's evening fixture, the penultimate in our summer campaign.

Spectators by and large vote with their feet on these occasions, so it was no surprise to see the racecourse more sparsely attended than might normally have been the case. But those that stayed away missed out on a young chaser building a reputation for himself and a career milestone for one Harry Skelton.

Six year old Captain Cool has had a highly successful summer since being sent chasing by trainer Jennie Candlish. Never out of the first 3 in 7 outings, he's occupied the winner's berth at Plumpton, here in May and June, and after yesterday, again here with a 2 3/4l success over Crebilly. He's a credit to his handler, who would be overcome with enquiries for horses, were these smaller fixtures receiving the coverage they deserve.

By all accounts, this deserved to be a sharply competitive race. Bagheera Ginge, twice a course and distance winner here earlier in the summer, and the old man of the party, Sir Tivo, both have winning experience here recently, and on their ratings, there was no more than 5lbs between the six runners: recipe for a tight contest.

But the race fell apart. Magistrato fell at the third when pursuing the leading Sir Tivo; Bagheera Ginge was under pressure when falling three out, and bad technique put paid to the chances of any others. 9/4 favourite Captain cool was far from faultless, but did enough under Sean Quinlan to carry the day.

For good measure, Candlish and Quinlan teamed up again 30 minutes later for a short-odds double, this time carrying off a comfortable 10l success over the Skelton - trained Krak with Dunkerque, scoring his fourth victory of the season in good style in the Quinnbet Novices Handicap Chase over 2m 6f.

It's on days like these that you can look back at vintage milestones, not least as they take place more frequently than the premier racedays; Jonjo O'Neill's 149 at Warwick, A P McCoy's 4,000th winner at Towcester.

This particular milestone was achieved by Harry Skelton, who scrambled his way into the list of the 10 most successful jump jockeys of all time when scoring a double for his brother on novice hurdler Fine Thing and handicap chaser Glenmalure Flyer.

At 1,590 winners, he is some way adrift of outright leader A P McCoy, on 4,348, but within reach of the likes of Scudamore and Dunwoody. Among jockeys still riding, only Sam Twiston-Davies is ahead of him. That nearly 1,400 of these winners have been for his brother is testament to a strong loyalty between them and a winner machine we haven't seen since the days of Martin Pipe.

Gordon Elliott, another proficient winner, has been a frequent raider these past 5 years at Perth, another summer venue, but forays from Ireland have largely been by Shark Hanlon, so an Elliott raider is to take note. Porcupine Bank, with champion rider Sean Bowen on top, was sent off a warm favourite in this match, but proved unequal to the task of overcoming the locally-trained Skelton challenger, Fine Thing, who is now 2 from 2 in novice events.

Glenmalure Flyer was beaten here at the end of June behind Lakeland Flyer, but found the sweet spot here, racing just off the pace till picking up the lead before the last for a 4l win over Illogical Logic.

Alan King has high hopes in Saturday's Ebor at York, fielding two, but his jumpers are quite few and far between this summer. Huntingdon winner Kitty's Glance had to make way however in the 2m 6f handicap hurdle for 2/1 favourite Rebel Tribesman under Jonathan Burke, left in the lead with 8 flights still to cover, but who pulled out enough to lead on the line by 2 1/4l, an 18th winner for Jamie Snowden.

On a good day for favourite backers, Reteti made good on a half length second here at the end of June when going one better in the closing handicap hurdle over the minimum trip. The top weight was prominent throughout among the 11 runners, and took up the running a half furlong out under Marc Goldstein to give Sheena West a winning debut for the 26-27 season.