Lord's perfect landing

Lord of the Land scored in an altogether more orthodox style at Sedgefield yesterday than he had in his previous outing.

Nine days earlier at Kelso, young amateur Adam Jones had ridden his first winner under Rules in memorable fashion as he crossed the winning post balanced precariously over the back of the six-year-old, the saddle having slipped right around on the long run from the last flight to the winning post.

There were no such problems yesterday for Brian Storey, the pair taking the Stanley Racing Handicap Hurdle by seven lengths from Topofthenorthracing. Front running tactics paid off for Last Try in the Red Onion For Television Handicap Chase as Adie Smith drove the 4 to 1 shot out on the long run from the second-last flight to hold off Little Tuska.

Meldrum Park made a decent start to her chasing career in the John Hellens' Novices' Chase when seeing off Lucky Master by two lengths.

Reigning champion jumps jockey Tony McCoy got in on the winning act too, steering Jack Berry's Amlwch home at 4 to 5 to land the Alphameric Bet Capture Systems Novices' Hurdle.

John Oxx has supplemented Earlene at a cost of £5,250 for the C L Weld Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday. Sheikh Mohammed's filly made all for a convincing win over a mile over the same course earlier this month, and her trainer has an outstanding record in the seven furlong Group Three event, having won five of the last nine runnings.