ANTHONY Honeyball expressed his delight at seeing 10-year-old As De Fer continue his remarkable comeback as he flourished with another success.

Having won at Warwick the previous week, Honeyball’s returning charge followed up by scooping the Dick Hunt Handicap Chase at Wincanton.

Under the guidance of David Noonan, As De Fer held on towards the finish to beat Colin Tizzard’s Quite by Chance by three-quarters of a length.

And there is nobody happier to see the gelding, whose owners considered retiring him, thrive than his trainer.

Honeyball told his official website: “It is great to see As De Fer back in the winning groove once more after a frustrating four years during which he needed surgery for colic and also had two wind ops.

“In addition he missed a season with a ligament problem. At one point As De Fer’s owners were so frustrated at the handicapper’s reluctance to drop him to a sensible mark that they considered retiring him or switching him to point-to-points.

“But in the end we decided to persevere with the old horse who has certainly justified our patience.”

Speaking about the win, Honeyball added: “Our decision to turn As De Fer out quickly under a penalty at Wincanton paid off handsomely.

“Once I saw he had been put up a hefty 19lbs for his impressive victory at Warwick seven days earlier it was a case of sending him to Wincanton under a 7lbs penalty or waiting for Chepstow 24 hours later.

“With our local track offering a lavish first prize of £13,763 it made sense to head to Wincanton.

“He was our 21st winner of the season and took the stable’s total of prize money past £160,000 with almost three months still to run.”

Harry Fry-trained four-year-old Chalonnial was also victorious at Wincanton, scooping the bigcasinobonuses.co.uk Standard Open NH Flat Race by five lengths from Crank Em Up.

Chalonnial went off at 5-2 with Noel Fehily on board.