a novice hurdle two weeks later at Kempton Park in which he finished second to the future Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth. The gelding returned to National Hunt Flat racing at Kempton in December and finished fourth behind Chain Of Command. At Fakenham Racecourse on 1 January he recorded his first success as he won a maiden hurdle by nineteen lengths at odds of 4/9. In February he won a novice hurdle at Folkestone Racecourse by sixteen lengths and then moved up in class to take the Grade II Dovecote Novices' Hurdle at Kempton beating Empire Levant by eleven lengths. On his final appearance of the season he started the 9/2 favourite for the Top Novices' Hurdle at Aintree Racecourse in April but finished third behind Topolski and Oilily. 2011/2012 National Hunt season In the following season Sire de Grugy was campaigned in handicap hurdle races. He made his seasonal reappearance in January when he finished sixth at Chepstow Racecourse and then finished fourth behind Zarkandar in the Tote Gold Trophy. He recorded his only success of the season on 21 February when he carried top weight of 160 pounds to victory at Taunton Racecourse. He finished third in the Imperial Cup at Sandown in March and ended his season by finishing eighth (ridden by Joshua Moore) behind Lifestyle at Aintree in April. 2012/2013 National Hunt season: Novice chases In the 2012/2013 National Hunt season, Sire de Grugy raced in novice steeplechase, making a successful debut over larger obstacles at Kempton on 21 October. He finished second to Captain Conan in the Grade II November Novices' Chase at Cheltenham Racecourse on 18 November before winning a minor event at Lingfield Park nine days later. Where he suffered a hairline fracture to his pelvis. After a four-month break, Sire de Grugy returned in spring and ran three times in three weeks. He finished fourth to Special Tiara in the Grade I Maghull Novices' Chase at Aintree on 6 April before winning a minor novices' event at Stratford Racecourse fifteen days later. On 27 April he started at odds of 6/1 for the Celebration Chase at Sandown in which he was matched against more experienced chasers including Sanctuaire, who had won the race in 2012 and Finian's Rainbow, the winner of the 2012 Champion Chase. Moore tracked the leaders before moving up to challenge Finian's Rainbow at the last fence. He