THE NEW LION lived up to the hype with a battling victory in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival.
The six-year-old is trained by Dan Skelton and was ridden by his brother Harry, who was sporting a black eye as well as the silks of his new owner JP McManus after the Kayf Tara gelding was purchased for a significant sum of money from Darren Yates.
The win is McManus’s second of the Festival so far — and a remarkable 80th overall.
He was a 3-1 chance and was ridden at the rear of the pack, stalking the Willie Mullins-trained 6-4 favourite Final Demand before breaking through the field to cross the line three-quarters of a length ahead of Gordon Elliott’s The Yellow Clay.
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Skelton said: “I always believed he’d win. In my heart, it just feels like it would take a very good one to get past this horse.
“I think he could be the best we’ve had, but this is uncharted territory for me as a trainer in my own right. When I worked for Paul (Nicholls) we had all those superstars, but I haven’t had a horse who can do things like this one.”
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JP McManus celebrates 80th Cheltenham winner as The New Lion lands the Turners
THE NEW LION lived up to the hype with a battling victory in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival.
The six-year-old is trained by Dan Skelton and was ridden by his brother Harry, who was sporting a black eye as well as the silks of his new owner JP McManus after the Kayf Tara gelding was purchased for a significant sum of money from Darren Yates.
The win is McManus’s second of the Festival so far — and a remarkable 80th overall.
He was a 3-1 chance and was ridden at the rear of the pack, stalking the Willie Mullins-trained 6-4 favourite Final Demand before breaking through the field to cross the line three-quarters of a length ahead of Gordon Elliott’s The Yellow Clay.
Skelton said: “I always believed he’d win. In my heart, it just feels like it would take a very good one to get past this horse.
“I think he could be the best we’ve had, but this is uncharted territory for me as a trainer in my own right. When I worked for Paul (Nicholls) we had all those superstars, but I haven’t had a horse who can do things like this one.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Cheltenham Horse Racing JP McManus The New Lion