Stuart Crawford hopes there is more improvement to come from smart Haydock winner Park Annonciade.

The five-year-old began his hurdling career in the summer with two encouraging efforts at Sligo and Perth, missing out by just three quarters of a length on debut and then winning well next time out.

He returned in autumn after a short break and quickly regained the winning thread with an Ayr success that led him to Haydock on Saturday, where he carried bottom weight, which was assisted further by 5lb claimer Ben Bromley.

The same trainer and owners, Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, were also represented in the race by Carnfunnock, but it was his less experienced stablemate who swept to a two-and-three-quarter-length victory as the 3-1 joint-favourite.

“We probably fancied the other horse more but he was just a bit rusty with his jumping on his first run of the season,” Crawford said.

“Park Annonciade had the advantage of a few runs, he’s been on the go over the summer and the drying ground was a big plus for him and he took advantage of being at the bottom of the weights.

“It was good that we could win with one runner anyway!”

The race was a step up to two miles and three furlongs for Park Annonciade and while Crawford predicts he will stay further in time, he is happy to move up only incrementally in the immediate future.

“Eventually, I imagine he’d be a horse that will run over a trip at some point in time but two, two and half miles at this stage will be far enough for him,” he said.

“I don’t know what the handicapper is going to do with him after that but he’s still going to struggle to get into the better races with the mark he’ll be on.

Park Annonciade gallops right away from them under a great ride from jockey Ben Bromley at Haydock for the @crawford_bros 🐎🥇 #Winner #DoubleGreen pic.twitter.com/MBvBnXXyO1

— Simon Munir (@simon_munir) November 25, 2023

“We’ll let him progress, he’s a horse that has improved with racing and he’s taken a wee bit of time to come to himself, so hopefully there’s another day in him at some point.”

Of plans for Carnfunnock, the trainer added: “I imagine we’ll go for a similar type of race again, he was the one we were really going there for but it didn’t work out on the day for him.

“He’s come out of the run well and we’ll look for something a bit closer to Christmas.”