Cannock Park puts Robson on the map at Cheltenham

Cannock Park held on gamely to the land the mallardjewellers.com Maiden Hurdle at Cheltenham for Craig Nichol and Paul Robson.

The five-year-old has been faring well since winning his sole point-to-point start, taking a bumper at Bangor last time out by four lengths.

He was a 15-2 chance in a field of seven at Prestbury Park and made the running from the start, gaining a lead that grew wider as the race developed.

The gelding looked to tire when climbing the hill, but did not fold and toughed it out to prevail by a neck from Innatendue, with odds-on favourite The Kemble Brewery in third.

“He tied up a bit, but he had a bit of an accident at home about four weeks ago and we had to back off him a bit. He’ll certainly come on for it and there’s a nice race at Wetherby at the end of the year we can look at,” Borders-based Robson said.

“I think he wants soft ground and I’m not sure we’ll get that in March, but we’ll see. We can dream.