French import Bloody Mary maintained her sequence of wins on her British debut in the Openbet Novices' Hurdle at Taunton.
Bought by JP McManus and now in training with Nicky Henderson, the grey had won six bumpers in France as well as her only start over obstacles in her homeland.
Starting her career at a fairly lowly level in Britain, the five-year-old nevertheless came up against a decent opponent in Philip Hobbs' Banyu, who had won at Ludlow in November.
But having travelled through the race very strongly in the hands of Barry Geraghty, everything looked to be going to plan for the 4-6 favourite.
However, Banyu looked a big threat running between the final two flights and Geraghty had to get pretty serious before Bloody Mary exerted her influence to win by two and a quarter lengths.
"She's not big but she jumps well and is game," Geraghty told At The Races.
" We quickened well from before two out and, thankfully, she had enough in reserve and jumped well and battled well.
"She's nice and she stays well. She's one that likes to grind it out, I'd say."