Oliver’s Hill benefited from a change of scenery to open his account at the first time of asking for Chipping Norton trainer Charlie Longsdon at Wetherby yesterday.
Having shown glimpses of form in a bumper and a novices’ hurdle in Ireland for Colin Bowe, Longsdon stepped in to buy him.
And the investment paid off as the five-year-old came home a length and a quarter clear of Rock A Doodle Doo in the maiden hurdle over an extended two miles under Andrew Tinkler.
Meanwhile, Longsdon has scratched Pete The Feat from the Crabbie’s Grand National following his fall in the Betfred Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter on Saturday.
Cantlow, who fell at the Cheltenham Festival, has also been taken out of the Aintree spectacular by Paul Webber, who trains at Mollington, near Banbury.
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