By Will Lefebve

Newmarket trainer James “walk on water” Owen again drowned the opposition at Fontwell Park yesterday when his only runner on the eight-race card Honneur d’Ajonc made it five wins from just six entries across three Sussex tracks over the past week.

The French-bred seven-year-old, having just his third run for Owen’s HQ yard, bolted clear of seven rivals to claim the extended two-mil handicap hurdle in the hands of amateur Alex Chadwick, scoring comfortably to justify 11-4 favouritism.

It could be argued that Owen now boats a 100% record with his Sussex raiders since last Monday, because his only beaten runner Addosh finished fourth behind stable-mate Enthused at Plumpton three days ago.

A beaming Owen, fast closing on a century of winners since he first took over the licence less than two years ago, said: “Everything is going swimmingly and we have got a great team behind us.

“We have super-patient owners and the horses are all holding their form well.

“We thought this horse would win at Perth last time but he got crowded out and he didn’t enjoy the experience.”

And as Chadwick reported: “This fellow had a dream run out there today, avoiding any crowding.”

It was a red-letter day for 29-year-old amateur Robbie David, who powered home 25-1 chance No Way Pedro, trained by Daisy Hitchins to a length verdict in on of two long-distance handicap hurdles.

David, from Porlock in Somerset, who is considering “turning pro” one day has recently returned from a three-year stint in Australia, rode four winners.

He also boasts 20 point-to-point winners on his CV.

Another rookie, conditional Isabelle Ryder, sprang a similar surprise when delivering Gary Brown’s 20-1 shot Groom De Cotte home by seven lengths in the other leg of the staying hurdle.

This was a fifth career winner for 22-year-old Ryder and Bown commented: “My horse has obviously improved a lot for the step-up in trip.”

Gary and Josh Moore’s Horsham stables were among the winners with Call Off The Dogs in the 4.15.