VERY few in the racing world had heard of Samuel Jackson until yesterday's meet at Taunton - they will have done now.

The 100/1 shot, trained by Richard Mitford-Slade at the Pontispool Equine Sports Centre in Norton Fitzwarren, outran horses trained by Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Harry Fry to claim a remarkable victory in his first ever race under rules.

It was a close run thing just to enter the five-year-old for the race, as Mitford-Slade explains: "I got my permit just over a fortnight ago, which was quite a lengthy process involving a lot of paperwork.

"I had earmarked this race for him for a while, and he's been training with point-to-pointers in the lead up to it.

"It [the permit] came through just in time and the rest, as they say, is history.

"We weren't expecting as much rain as there was, and we were hoping it would be good to soft. However, we were happy to give him a go on the soft ground and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

"I've been nervous for weeks. After sticking my neck out to join in with the big boys, you begin to doubt yourself and wonder whether it is the right thing to do. Fortunately, it turned out well.

"I was confident he would run well and he ran exactly how I expected - I said to Micheal [Nolan, jockey] that if he came round the bend with more to give then to go for it.

"It was nice to do it at our local track, too - we knew that we had nothing really to lose coming here."

Though admitting he is "not really a gambler", Mitford-Slade did admit to having put something on his debutant horse.

"I did have a little bit on him," he said.

"At such long odds, I would have been a fool not to - we had a bit of a party to celebrate last night."

As for what happens next for Samuel Jackson, who is one of four Pontispool horses being lined up for races in the coming months, Mitford-Slade explained: "Even though he's a chaser, he will carry on hurdling this season.

"He is still a bit of a green jumper, as we saw yesterday, so there is still room for improvement, but he beat some well-rated horses yesterday. 

"As a starting point, it couldn't have gone any better."