CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL: Twiston-Davies unveils a new star on day two (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Novice The New One shakes up next year's Champion Hurdle market

1:00pm Saturday 16th March 2013 in Sport By Danny Hall, Sports Editor

NAUNTON trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies may have unearthed a major player in next year’s Champion Hurdle after The New One sped away with the Neptune Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival on Wednesday.

Sam Twiston-Davies was given a rousing reception in the winner’s enclosure as the horse is trained just 12 miles from the course.

However, the trainer nearly missed his son’s big moment.

"My guts rebelled and I was in the loo for most of the race," he admitted. "Luckily, I extricated myself for the final hurdle. I am a very proud dad – he would not have been happy had I missed the whole race."

Barbury Castle trainer Alan King saddled a one-two in the Coral Cup with the winner Medinas (33-1), the mount of Swindon-based Wayne Hutchinson, and the shorter-priced runner-up Meister Eckhart.

The only sour note for King was that stable jockey Robert Thornton could only watch from the stands having been injured in the week before the Festival.

Highlight of the day, however, was the scintillating 19-length win of Sprinter Sacre in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

The brilliant seven-year-old, trained by Nicky Henderson, cruised around the two-mile contest and left talented runner-up Sizing Europe trailing.

Winning jockey Barry Geraghty told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I think the ‘Frankel of jump racing’ is a fair way to describe him."