Chaser left to trot home alone after opponents withdrawn due to hard ground caused by ongoing dull, dry spell

A gentle gallop from the furlong pole to the winning line was enough to secure a prize of nearly £22,000 for the connections of Captain Teague at Exeter on Friday after the “Future Stars” Novice Chase, one of the main supporting events on the track’s biggest day of the year, was reduced to a walkover when two of the three declared runners were scratched due to unusually fast ground.

Dan Skelton’s Deafening Silence, a winner on the same card over hurdles 12 months ago, was the first horse to be pulled out of the contest, which was due to open a four-race broadcast on ITV4, after the same trainer’s five-year-old Jack Black was pulled up in the opening novice hurdle.