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.