Mick Channon's talented hurdler and chaser Sgt Reckless made a winning debut under Flat Rules with a most impressive display at Lingfield.
Fourth in last season's Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival before going on to be placed at Aintree and Punchestown, the eight-year-old made a winning start to his career over fences at Uttoxeter in October.
He switched back to the smaller obstacles in the Christmas Hurdle, but was outclassed by the brilliant Faugheen, and Channon saw the coral.co.uk Best Odds On Racing Maiden Stakes as a good opportunity to get him back on track.
Sent off the 4-5 favourite in the hands of Charlie Bishop, Sgt Reckless was a little sluggish away from the stalls, but made smooth headway in the back straight and hit top gear rounding the home turn.
Godolphin's Millionaires Row and the Ralph Beckett-trained Belrog both floundered as Sgt Reckless eased to an empathic five-length victory over the former.
Channon said: "All the experts are saying we're crazy to be running him on the Flat, but he's a horse with a lot of ability.
"He's a horse who needs decent ground so if we had a wet Cheltenham and Aintree and we couldn't run over jumps, what would we do with him?
"He's a class horse and he did what we thought he'd do today. All we're doing is keeping our options open and if we want to go back on the Flat, we can.
"There doesn't seem to be any let-up in the rain and I can't see there being much good ground around for the next month or six weeks. Who knows where we'll go next? At least we've given ourselves more options."
Another to impress was Pharmaceutical, who had owner Jim Hay looking on as he accounted for Double Heaven by a length in the Ladbrokes Maiden Stakes as the 6-4 favourite.
Trainer Charlie Hills said of the half-brother to Red Rocks: "He wasn't with me last year and we wanted to get some experience into him.
"He'll need to step up again and we'll probably give him another run on the all-weather. There is the option of the race on Good Friday, but he'd need a couple of runs before then, so we'll just have to see how he is."
