Terrific Thomas shows what he's capable of at Aintree

The 23-year-old, a year older than the unfortunate England keeper, would probably have settled for just winning the £200,000 Betfair Chase on Kauto Star on Saturday, but he grabbed the opportunity presented to him by Ruby Walsh's dislocated shoulder to prove that he is a rider with a huge future.

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National priority: Mr Pointment leads Bewleys Berry over the last

Thomas, who is now looking forward to riding Hennessy favourite Denman on Saturday, said: "It was a great day and hopefully it will be a stepping stone in my career as people who have not seen me performing before at the weekends will have spotted me now.

"I have shown that I am capable of riding on big-race days and hopefully a few more opportunities will come along.

"It probably helped as well that he (Kauto Star) got beat last time (at Aintree) though he did run a good race. Had he won the time before that would have put a lot more pressure on me. I put all the hype to the back of my mind."

The son of two Abergavenny head teachers, the good-looking and articulate Thomas looks a natural successor to 12-times champion jockey Tony McCoy.

There is nothing like high-profile success to boost an athlete's confidence and Thomas showed the big Aintree fences held no fears for him or his partner as he led all the way under Mr Pointment, trained like Kauto Star by Paul Nicholls, holding off the challenge of Bewleys Berry on the run-in.

Thomas said: "It's a dream come true - the icing on the weekend cake. I went into the race thinking I had a great chance. You would not get a better ride round here.

"It's been an amazing couple of days and I'll go home tonight to reflect."

Mr Pointment is now 16-1 joint favourite for the Grand National with Ladbrokes and is unlikely to run over fences again before his big target.

Thomas, who has five rides at Ludlow today, said: "I'll have a bit of a party later in the week but not tonight. I'm just delighted it's all gone so well and that all the horses are running so well."

Racing nut Sir Alex Ferguson was given an Aintree masterclass by Michael Dickinson, the recently retired former champion trainer who is over from America to see his mother Monica and attend tomorrow's Sir Peter O'Sullevan lunch.

It was a good way for the Manchester United manager to take his mind off that defeat at Bolton 24 hours earlier.

Dickinson explained to Ferguson how difficult the Chair fence is. He could see for himself that it is not an obstacle to be trifled with - although other Grand National fences gave more trouble yesterday.

There were 21 fallers in the two races over the unique obstacles.