The pressure was on trainer Dan Skelton and jockey brother Harry Skelton to win the Turners Novices’ Hurdle for new owner of The New Lion
The billionaire owner JP McManus may have bought racing’s next superstar on the ‘cheap’ after The New Lion captured the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival on Wednesday.
The New Lion started his career in the colours of Darren Yates, the punter who collected £550,000 after backing all the winners of Frankie Dettori’s Magnificent Seven at Ascot in 1996.
Yates plunged some of his fortune into racehorses and landed his biggest victory when The New Lion won for the third time over hurdles in the Challow Hurdle at Newbury in December.
The six-year-old was so impressive Yates received an offer he couldn’t refuse from McManus and parted with the star for a rumoured £1million. Yates has since exited the sport.
The pressure was on trainer and jockey, brothers Dan and Harry Skelton, to succeed for their new VIP client.
And in the new green and gold colours Harry guided the 3-1 chance past The Yellow Clay near the winning post to triumph three quarters of a length with favourite Final Demand third.
The last horse to win the race for McManus was the legendary Istabraq who after scoring in 1997, won the Champion Hurdle three times. The performance impressed the pundits with Sir AP McCoy, now one of McManus’s righthand men, reckoning the winner’s price had been ‘cheap’.
Speaking on ITV he said, “It doesn’t matter what it was. It was cheap. He’s a really good horse.
JP and I are really good friends but he’d never speak to me again if he said he’s like Istabraq but he has the chance to go back and being that type of horse because he beat really good horses there.”
The winning jockey, who was sporting a black eye after being kicked at the weekend, was elated.
“He’s got it all,” he said. “You hope one day in your life you can come across a good one and he’s good. I’m delighted he came here and did it on the day.
“I’m the man who gets to come and sit up on top of him and walk back in front of all that. This place is magic. When you get a winner here it is that special.”
Dan Skelton said: “I feel like probably our mouths ran away with ourselves back in the autumn but he is a very special horse.
“I trusted him the whole way round there. Harry has given him an unbelievably good ride.
It takes a horse that I’ve never had before to get past him
“I think he’s the best I’ve had. It’s uncharted territory for me. Obviously when I worked for Paul Nicholls we had all those superstars but I haven’t had one that can do things like this one.”