Anak takes Plumpton prize

Anak made a successful transition from Flat racing to jumping as he put in a laboured performance to land the KBR Lashkar GAH Juvenile Maiden Hurdle at Plumpton today.

A gusty wind and testing underfoot conditions made it hard work for the five runners, but the Tony McCoy-ridden 4-11 favourite, trained by Jim Best, asserted heading to the final flight to capitalise by 11 lengths.

Best said of the former John Oxx inmate: "He was very workmanlike, but Tony said he did it fairly easily and that is was tough for him in those conditions.

"He doesn't show a lot at home so you have to be pleased with that and he will come on for it."

Andy Stewart was on hand to see his Nomecheki overcome a 633-day layoff and make a successful start to his career over fences in the BGC Partners Helmand Handicap Chase.

The Nick Gifford-trained seven-year-old has been sidelined since the beginning of 2008 but was produced fit and ready to take issue with his rivals at the third-last.

Grand National-winning ride Liam Treadwell allowed the 11-2 chance to then stride on to continue Stewart's good run after Tataniano's Cheltenham success 24 hours earlier.

Stewart said: "That was very impressive as he hasn't run for two years due to injury and leg problems.

"We have kept him on the go and full credit to Nick and his team for getting him back.

"He won two races on the Flat in France and also a good race over hurdles.

"He then came across in the same batch of horses as Oslot, who won the Galway Plate.

"He hated the ground but we did think he was well handicapped so we'll look for similar races on better ground."

The Betchworth Kid was another to make a successful switch between codes as the former Michael Bell inmate got off the mark for Alan King as the 4-6 favourite in the Ladbrokes Bamiyan Novices' Hurdle.

Owned by a syndicate which includes former Daily Mail racing correspondent Colin MacKenzie, the four-year-old had some useful form to his name with wins in such as Doncaster's Mallard Handicap.

And he could yet take high rank among this season's crop of jumping recruits after Robert 'Choc' Thornton guided him to a cosy victory.

King said: "The ground wasn't ideal but he has handled it and Choc said he will be better in a big field.

"He has been very straightforward since joining me and has enjoyed his jumping all of the way.

"We will see how it goes but if they are fit and well then him and Manyriverstocross will have entries in everything."