JAMES Moffatt celebrated his first Festival winner as a trainer and declared: "I've got a rush going through my system like you wouldn't believe."

As a jockey, Moffatt won the 1995 Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle aboard Home Counties, trained by his father Dudley.

But he had to wait another 15 years to break his duck as a trainer as 33-1 shot Chief Dan George came out on top in a driving finish to take the William Hill Handicap Chase under Paddy Aspell.

"This is nearly as good as the win 15 years ago, although as a jockey you're so focussed on what you're doing that you go past the line before you realised what you've achieved. As a trainer I jumped every fence.

"To have this horse back like this is marvellous. He really jumped well when winning at Doncaster and we were really confident he would run well today.

"We all backed him each-way and we're not surprised by what he's done."

Aspell said the drying ground had helped Chief Dan George, who is set to run next in the Scottish National at Ayr in April, in which he was fifth last year.

Casey Jones, trained by Noel Meade, sustained a fatal injury in the race.