Point Of Principle hung on grimly to give Tim Vaughan a landmark victory in the Ascot Schools Art Competition Novices' Hurdle at the Berkshire track.
The Vale of Glamorgan handler believed Ascot was the only British jumps track where he had not had a winner, and he duly put that right, albeit by the narrowest of margins.
At 12-1, Point Of Principle was the outsider of five but he travelled well throughout for Alan Johns, before being all out to deny Dame De Compagnie by a nose and open his account.
"He's always shown ability and has gone to places like Cheltenham and we took him to Musselburgh to try to win a race but bumped into a nice horse of Keith Dalgleish's (Silver Concorde) and he injured himself," said Vaughan.
"We thought we'd have a try at a decent one. A couple of these hadn't run to their ability last time and we thought soft ground and the uphill finish would be a stiff test and it's just come off.
"It's my first winner here and this was the only National Hunt track in Britain I hadn't had a winner. I think I've got them all now, it's great."
He added: "We've not got him in the level-weight races at Cheltenham. It seemed a bit ambitious at the time. I'll see what the owners say, but I think we might go for a similar race next time and then go to Aintree. He ran a blinder there last year in the Grade Two bumper."