CONVENT GARDEN, trained by Crook-based handler Howard Johnson and part-owned by Magpies legend, Alan Shearer, was the easy winner of the Children In Need Handicap Hurdle at Aintree yesterday.

"Howard has done a great job getting Covent Garden so fit after such a long absence. The horse is very tough and doesn't know he's beaten.

Coming racing is a great way to relax after the pressures of the Premiership and I really enjoy it," said Shearer, out of luck on Saturday as Newcastle were drubbed 3-0 at Chelsea in his absence following a recent hernia operation.