Idle Pentland Hills has to prove his mettle if he is to land the Champion Hurdle
Tom Collins on the latest developments along the road to the Cheltenham Festival
Everything looked to be going swimmingly for last year's Triumph Hurdle winner Pentland Hills as he loomed up to challenge long-time leader Cornerstone Lad in the New One Unibet Hurdle at Haydock on Saturday.
Even the doubters, who think last year's Triumph form is weak, and those who thought he should have maintained his winning streak at Cheltenham on his return were about to consider the five-year-old as a real Champion contender come March.
He pinged the last hurdle and bookies were already starting to slash his ante-post odds (he was matched at lower than 4-1 on Betfair), but then he started to paddle.
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