Twiston-Davies thrilled by New One’s ‘instant burst’

One of the Yorkshire Post’s five NH horses to follow, the five-year-old is one of the ante-post favourites for the Champion Hurdle after winning his comeback race at Kempton on Sunday.

Trained by the jockey’s father Nigel, The New One surged past Rock On Ruby – the 2012 Cheltenham hero – with classy ease at the second-last flight en route to a 10-length victory.

The International Hurdle at Cheltenham in December, and Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle, are likely targets before the National Hunt Festival in March.

Yet Twiston-Davies junior, who celebrated his 21st birthday last week, says he is learning all the time on this potential equine superstar who won the Neptune Investment race for novice hurdlers at this year’s Festival.

He says he is not likely to challenge for the lead in the future until after the last flight in order to maximise The New One’s rocket-like change of pace.

“Now I am getting to know him a lot better, hopefully you can wait going down to the last and then quicken through the gears,” he observed.

“The gears he has are a massive help – you don’t have to rely on a big jump to get you there to the front.

“I made a few mistakes last year but hopefully I can learn from them and we can put them to good use. He’s relaxing a lot better. You can be more confident on him because you know he has that instant burst.

“Racing this early in the season was good – we know where we are with him and I’ll be able to ride him with more confidence because he’s proven he’s good enough to take on Grade One horses. We were only narrowly beaten by Zarkandar at Aintree in April.”

The New One clearly excited Twiston-Davies senior who said: “There’s definitely more to come – he’ll improve on that. He does seem exceptional.”

Twiston-Davies also confirmed that Imperial Commander could be a surprise package for the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on November 30.

The 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero has been back in training for two months and connections are eyeing either the Betfair Chase at Haydock, which he won three years ago, or the big handicap chase at the Berkshire venue for his return.

Yorkshire trainer Phil Kirby is excited to see what the future holds for Lady Heidi after the filly ran out a shock winner of the Silver Tankard Stakes at Pontefract.

The daughter of High Chaparral had shaped with plenty of promise on her first two maiden starts at Thirsk and Newcastle, finishing fourth and third respectively, but was a 20-1 rank outsider as she stepped up to Listed class against four winning colts.

Ridden patiently by in-form Silvestre de Sousa, Lady Heidi’s victory was a first two-year-old success for her talented dual-purpose trainer, who has trained over 50 winners since moving to Middleham at the start of the year.

Kirby said: “We’ve always liked her and she shows plenty of ability at home. I think it looks fair enough form and I don’t think there was any fluke about it, so we’ll put her away now.

“I’m sure there’s loads of improvement in her. She’s still got to fill out her frame and hopefully she’ll be an even better filly next year.”

Declaration Of War will retire to Coolmore Stud after he has signed off his racing career in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Saturday week.

The four-year-old, trained by Aidan O’Brien, has proved himself to be a top-notch performer this season with victories in two Group One races, the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Juddmonte International Stakes at York.