Former Adelaide Cup winner Capecover has made a successful transition to a career as a jumper after claiming his first hurdle win today at Bendigo.

In a small piece of serendipity, Kerdem, the horse that finished second to Capecover in the 2010 Adelaide Cup, also finished second in the Bendigo maiden hurdle over 3200m.

In a major turnaround from his flat racing career, Capecover was taken to the front by leading jumps jockey Stephen Pateman, and proved to have too much class, eventually winning by three and half lengths.

Trainer Patrick Payne believes the eight year old gelding has room for improvement despite his easy win at his first race over the jumps.

“I thought he would jump a bit better than he did today. He is very good at home and he is very good in his hurdle schools but Steve (Pateman) said he just got a bit competitive at a couple of his jumps.

“He just made a couple of little mistakes. It’s something we will have to work on and improve in the future.” Payne said.

Capecover was far from disgraced in his career as a flat horse. Not only did he win the Group Two Adelaide Cup, but he also won a Group Three Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington, a Mornington Cup as well as three listed races in New Zealand early in his career. He was also placed in Queens Cup and a Moonee Valley Cup.

In fact there are some that may argue that Capecover still has value as a flat track galloper. Just over a month ago he finished second in an open handicap at Awapuni in New Zealand.