On his debut for the new yard, the horse won the feature race of the day on the card at Newton Abbott. The horse won a hunter chase at Fontwell in May and the seven year old then gained two second places in handicaps, again at Fontwell and then at Exeter.

"Phillip Hobbs is very pleased to have him," said Mrs Buckley. "He was entered for a hurdle race at Worcester in what would have been his first race under Hobbs, but the weather was so bad that, although he was favourite, we withdrew him."

But he made up for lost time and ran in the handicap chase at Newton Abbot, the big race of the day, was favourite and won.

‘Hermano Cordobes’ is a brother to successful front running chaser ‘El Cordobes’, who had several notable wins at Fakenham and Market Rasen under Mrs Buckley's stewardship when she trained the horse herself at Cabourne.

At Newton Abbot the horse had top jockey Richard Johnson on board, the jockey having previously teamed up successfully with ‘El Cordobes’.