The New One gives the Twiston-Davies family triple delight
THE NEW ONE became only the third horse to win the StanJames.com International Hurdle three times as he topped a memorable day for the Twiston-Davies family at Cheltenham.
With champion jockey Richard Johnson substituting for Ryan Hatch, who sustained back and sternum injuries in a fall at the track on Friday, the 13-8 favourite pulled a decisive three and a half lengths clear of My Tent Or Yours.
The New One joined Bird’s Nest and Relkeel as a three-time winner of the race.
Trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies conceded that the eight-year-old would not even have been in the line-up at all if the frost abandonment of Exeter last month had not delayed his novice chasing debut.
The New One’s transition to fences has now been shelved. His Festival target in March will now be a fourth attempt to win the Champion Hurdle, in which he has twice been placed, or the longer World Hurdle.
Twiston-Davies said: ‘Everything worked out brilliantly but it is a day of great sadness in a way as he would have been poor Ryan Hatch’s ride. What a disaster for the poor boy. It was his great chance but he will be back.’
The jockey fell when riding Cogry in the Unicoin Handicap Chase on Friday.
‘I feel for him. It is a serious injury but he will be OK. He is not going to be paralysed,’ added the trainer.
Twiston-Davies handed much of the credit for The New One’s performance to Eventing rider Andrew Nicholson.
Now jumping straighter, The New One becomes a Champion Hurdle contender with the current landscape devoid of facts. Neither of the last two winners — Willie Mullins-trained Annie Power and Faugheen — have yet to be seen this season.
The Twiston-Davies success extended to oldest son Sam, who steered Frodon to victory in a confidence-boosting win in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup.
Having been absent for seven weeks with bruised kidneys and spleen, Sam had only had one winner in the 12 days since his comeback and the pressure was beginning to mount with a clutch of young colleagues snapping at his heels in the stable of Paul Nicholls.
Meanwhile, flat jockey Freddy Tylicki, left paralysed from the waist down after a fall at Kempton in October, has spoken of the tough times he faces and his determination to be positive.
Tylicki, 30, remains in St George’s Hospital, Tooting, ahead of a move to the London Spinal Cord Injury Centre at Stanmore in Middlesex.
The jockey said: ‘I have good days and bad days. At the moment, I have more bad ones than good ones. But I am going to be moved to rehab in the next couple of weeks and I am looking forward to that as it will be the next chapter of my life. ‘Of course I ask, Why me? If I said no I would be lying. You are going to ask yourself that. But is that going to change anything? No. So the only way to deal with it is to accept it and somehow move on.’
Tylicki, whose spirits had been raised by visits from colleagues as well as the wider support he has received which has seen over £330,000 raised in a fund to support him, said he could remember ‘every little detail’ of the fall from Nellie Dean on October 31 that caused a four-horse horror pile-up.
Tylicki, who revealed his other injuries included 18 broken ribs, said: ‘It’s hard to talk about the future. Even harder for me as I have never experienced anything like this. The impact on my spine was very, very hard because of the speed we went.’