Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle on Sunday, November 18, the third and final day of The Open at Cheltenham.

The New One
Racehorse Photos

The New One landed the Grade Two John Smith’s Champion Bumper at Aintree in April and returned this season with a 26-length demolition of his rivals on his hurdling debut at Newton Abbot on October 1.

On his latest start the four-year-old justified favouritism with a taking display in the opening race of The Showcase, the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle, scoring by two and three-quarter lengths from the highly-regarded Village Vic, with a further 21 lengths back to the third.

Twiston-Davies said: “The Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle is certainly a race we are looking at for The New One. He has come out of his race on Friday brilliantly - he is very laid back and you wouldn’t know he’s had a race.

“I thought his performance at Cheltenham was very good. He was on the bridle coming to the last and just had to be shaken up on the run in and he went away well.

“He has all the right attributes and he travels well. His jumping wasn’t too bad as he was quite quick over his hurdles. He wasn’t spectacular, which we would like, but it was a very good performance overall.

“I think the form is very solid as the first two were miles clear of the rest.

“I think one day he will get three miles as he is stoutly bred but I think for the moment we will stick to two and a half. He won on very soft ground at Newton Abbot - I know it wasn’t much of a race - but at the moment we are not worried about the ground.”

The Grade Two contest at The Open is the second race in the “Road To Cheltenham” series which culminates with the Grade One Sprinter Sacre is likely to make his seasonal reappearance in the two-mile contest.