Eric McNamara's Air Chief in the well-known Margaret Wilmott silks landed a gamble in convincing fashion in the Newcastle West G.A.A. Three-Year-Old Maiden Hurdle.

His stablemate, Jafra (16s in the morning and 10s into 8s on track) was never competitive but Air Chief (6s into 3s) overcame a troubled passage (blinded at the fourth last and hampered when No One Tells Me veered to her left before the second last) to lead after two out, going on to score by three lengths under Robbie Power.

McNamara said: "We bought him at the Newmarket Horses In Training Sale (won two with Harry Dunlop) which has been lucky for us, we got Strangely Brown there too. He had an awful lot of schooling done coming here and we hoped he'd win. He looks a nice horse and he should progress from here and go for a winners of one." (EM)