“IT’S been a good day,” smiled Tom Scudamore after claiming a joint-feature double for trainer Martin Pipe at Cartmel.

The experienced jump jockey took both the Cavendish Cup and the coral.co.uk Handicap Hurdle – both Class Two races and both with £20,000 prize pots – on the final day of action at the South Lakes track for 2016.

Father Edward blessed the Cavendish Cup with victory as Scudamore rode the 17/2 shot to an impressive nine-length in his mount’s first run for Pipe.

In the process he overcame the challenge of James Moffatt’s Munsaab, blessed the day before in a special service at Cartmel Priory, but with nothing extra beneath his wings as he was among those left chasing in the winner’s wake.

Scudamore brought Father Edward to prominence six furlongs from home and had him in front by the fourth last on the wood side, leading well at the last and pulling away on the long run-in.

“He was grand,” said Scudamore of his seven-year-old mount, who had gone five runs and a switch of stables since his last success. “It was pretty straightforward, he has jumped and travelled all the way and it was a decent performance. It’s nice to come up here and win a decent race.

“It was the right race for him – David has chosen, as usual, the right race for him.

“He was always taking me and jumping to prominence and there was no point in taking him back. He knew where the winning post was.

“He’s not quirky in any way and I always felt that he was going to keep on galloping. If he didn’t keep on galloping, he wasn’t going to stay and there wasn’t much I could do about that. He’s stood the trip well and hopefully it’s on to bigger and better things now.”

Two races later and the main hurdle of the day went the way of Scudamore and Pipe as well, with Ennistown performing another perfect surge to the front before the last, as he left pace-setter Goldan Jass for dead.

Moffatt’s Boruma was the closest challenger on a step up in class, but jockey Brian Hughes could only watch from an 11-length distance as Ennistown and his rider finished the three-mile one-furlong trip well clear.

Moffatt could at least console himself with the prize for the top trainer at the course over the nine race-days this season.

“That was great,” said Scudamore. “He’s getting a bit more relaxed – he was a bit keen and free when he first arrived, but the boys and girls have done a great job with him and he’s much more relaxed. That’s made the difference today.

“All the way through, he has taken me there and I wasn’t going to take home back. It was a nice speed.

“It’s been a good day, shall we say.”

Champion jockey Richard Johnson started his day in style with victory on Gordon Elliott’s John Monsah in the Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding Novices’ Hurdle.

Johnson brought the five-year-old top-weight round the outside on the long run to the final hurdle and led from Moffatt’s Mondlicht going over it.

Henry Brooke pushed Mondlicht on and had brief hopes of catching the leader in the straight but did not have the power to push past and ended up crossing the line three-quarters of a length behind the 9/4 winner.

Hygrove Percy was another top-weight to triumph, easing away up the straight in the Wicks Waste Services Juvenile Hurdle under Noel Fehily, five lengths ahead of second-placed Linger, ridden by Johnson as he sought a quick double.

Hughes, bidding successfully to be top jockey at Cartmel in 2016, notched a vital victory in his quest as he rode Endeavor to triumph in the Burlington Stone Handicap Chase for the second year in succession.

A winner over course and distance last month, Endeavor tracked leader Safari Journey, under Dean Pratt, as he pushed ahead five from home, and was on his shoulder at the last.

The long run-in proved to favour Hughes and his mount as they went ahead just over a furlong from home as they entered the straight and eased their way to a two-and-three-quarter-length success.

Sean Bowen likewise pulled away on Wadswick Court after the last in the Ilex Bar and Brasserie at Holker Handicap Chase to take the win.

The pair had led the field round the entire two-mile five-furlong distance and asserted their superiority on the run-in, with a 12-length gap behind to second-placed Cruchain come the finish.

There was the perfect finish to racing as James Cowley and Perfect Poison claimed the Swan Hotel and Spa Handicap Hurdle – if not the final fling Moffatt’s Maybe I Wont hoped he could produce in his 100th and final race.

The gap come the end was just a neck between the two, with Henry Brooke having mounted a superb final push up the straight to set the hearts racing on the Cartmel-trained mount. It was not to be, but it was a fine last hurrah both for the horse and for 2016 at the South Lakes track.