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L'Eau de Sud added another string to his ever-growing bow when proving he could get down and dirty in the Grade 1 Betfair Henry VIII Novices' Chase at Sandown.
Dan Skelton's progressive six-year-old took his record to a perfect three from three over fences when winning the Betfair Henry VIII Novices' Chase.
An impressive winner of the Grade 2 Arkle Challenge Trophy Trial Novices' Chase at Cheltenham last month, Dan Skelton's charge was sent off the 10/11 favourite to confirm his place at the top of the tree as Britain's leading Arkle contender.
However, with conditions continuing to deteriorate throughout the day due to Strom Darragh, L'Eau de Sud was in line to face a very different test on his first outing in Grade 1 company.
The JP McManus-owned Down Memory Lane never looked happy from an early stage and when stablemate Touch Me Not, who helped force the pace alongside Soul Icon for much of the contest, made a mess of the sixth last down the back straight, it appeared L'Eau de Sud's to lose.
It wasn't all plain sailing from there on in though, as Dan Skelton's charge made a mistake of his own at the second last before once again failing to produce his best leap at the final flight, leaving him landing on all fours.
Harry Skelton was forced to get serious with the galloping grey after the last, but to his credit, he dug deep and picked up again before going on to score by a commanding three and three-quarter lengths. Gordon Elliott's Touch Me Not (5/1) finished back in second, with Down Memory Lane eight lengths behind the winner in third.
"The ground was hard work, it's deep now. He bunny hopped the last but he's a tough horse and has won ugly when he needed to," said the winning jockey Dan Skelton, who rode Allmankind to win the same contest for his brother Dan four years ago.
"He'll have a little break now and will probably have one run before the Arkle.
"He's a fit horse, you've got to run them when they are fit and well and that is what Dan does, you take your chances, but he's shown today ground doesn't really matter.
"I think he's got it all this horse. On some nice spring ground, I think he'll really enjoy it.
"He's beaten two really good horses today and Soul Icon is no slouch. He's thrown our hat in the ring there but I'm sure there's plenty to come across the Irish Sea."
Trainer Dan Skelton was quick to echo the thoughts of his brother Harry, pinpointing that his Arkle contender would be seen to much better effect on a sounder surface.
"It's the first time he's been in a bit of a fight," said Dan Skelton. "He was very unpolished over the last and second last but that's just him getting it done over the jumps in pretty sticky ground.
"The whole way around he was travelling particularly well. He definitely wants that slightly better ground to be seen at his absolute best."
Allmankind went on to land the Grade 2 Kingmaker Novices' Chase at Warwick before heading to the Arkle and although Skelton is keen to follow a similar path, the Alcaster handler was not ruling out a potential crack at the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury, should his brother Harry be forced to head there for a strong book of rides.
He said: "We'll give him his flu vaccination; we'll give him a little freshen up and he'll either go for the Kingmaker at Warwick or he could go to Super Saturday [at Newbury]. It depends where Harry's got to be."
"If Harry had to be at Newbury because we were running Protektorat in the Denman and we had Be Aware in the Betfair hurdle, then I'd have no problem running him. We'd go into it most likely finishing second to Jonbon but it would be a great run en-route to the Arkle. In an ideal world, he goes to Warwick but I'm not afraid to run them."
"I want to get him absolutely at his peak for the Arkle and I think, after that, we've got a pretty exciting contender."
Paddy Power cut the winner to 6/1 (from 9s) for the Arkle Novices' Chase at Cheltenham in March.