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Burdett Road made a winning start to his hurdling career at Huntingdon on Sunday.

Formerly trained on the flat by Michael Bell, the son of Muhaarar won the Golden Gate Handicap at Royal Ascot in June before placing third in the Group 3 Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor.

Owned by the Gredley Family, Burdett Road was gelded and sent to trainer James Owen. He showed rivals a clean pair of heels in the Follow Us On Twitter @betrhino Juvenile Hurdle on Sunday, racing keenly in second under Harry Cobden. The pair took the lead before the fourth flight and cruised to an easy twelve length success, justifying favouritism.

"It can only go wrong when they are odds-on like that, but he had done lots of schooling at home," said Owen.

"He was a keen horse on the Flat and that is why we put the hood on him.

"The plan was to go to Warwick, but as the ground was going to be so soft there we decided to come here. He has learnt a lot, but he will be better in a truer run race.

"We all know that he has got an engine and we have got to just keep teaching him now.

"I would have loved to have seen him settle better, but he did switch off fine when he got to the front and he jumped fine on the whole, with the exception of a couple of little mistakes.

"As far as juveniles go first time out, that was OK. He got the job done and he was not for stopping.

"So much thanks go to the Gredley family for sending him to me. That has relieved the pressure a bit. Let's hope we can keep building on that.

"If it is not deep ground in a couple of weeks' time we will go for the Triumph Hurdle trial at Cheltenham and learn a bit more about him.

"He needs education, and he is not a horse that wants to be running too fresh. He had plenty of Flat runs and he improved almost every time he ran.

"I don't think the track at Cheltenham will pose any problems to him. I just hope he is a bit more amenable."

Burdett Road is 33/1 with Paddy Power for the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.