Lord Oaksey made his first visit to fog-shrouded Exeter for many years yesterday and even the poor visibility could not stop him `witnessing' Plaid Maid carry his colours to a clear success in the Devon Air Ambulance New Millennium Handicap Chase.

Trained by Oaksey's son-in-law Mark Bradstock, the mare appeared to make all running under Tony McCoy and eventually score by 18 lengths from Norlandic.

"That was wonderful," declared Oaksey who is part owner of the eight-year-old. The win is really down to my daughter Sara (Bradstock) as I would almost certainly have taken her out if it was down to me as she seemed to get stuck in the Uttoxeter mud last time and it was heavy today".

"This is my first visit to the track for many, many years but it has been a lucky place for me in the past. I remember coming here when Ghofar, owned by my sister Lady Dundas and trained by David Elsworth, won on his debut and he went on to win the Hennessy Gold Cup," he added.

McCoy went onto collect a brace when the David Johnson owned Carandrew made a winning British debut in the second division of the Agatha Christie Challenge Trophy Novices' Chase.

The final contest on the card was abandoned in the interests of safety.