'He's a really nice horse for the future' - A Pai De Nom continues to excel as a novice hurdler for the Skelton yard

A Pai De Nom swept through late in the 1m7½f novice hurdle to back up his victory at Cheltenham’s November meeting.

Travelling behind the leaders, he briefly looked to be slowing approaching the second-last, but he quickened up decisively under Tristan Durrell once over the final hurdle, surging past Seaview Rock to seal the race on the run-in.

The Dan Skelton-trained five-year-old has now won three of his four starts over hurdles since making a successful debut in that sphere in September and it was another success for 3lb claimer Durrell, who enjoyed the biggest win of his career last Saturday when landing the Coral Gold Cup on the yard's Panic Attack.

“He did it easily in the end,” Durrell told Racing TV. “I didn’t want to get involved too soon on that ground. He hasn’t run on proper testing ground like that before, so I didn’t want to give him too hard a race.

“We were confident he’d be fine dropping back in trip on softer going. He’s a really nice horse for the future and everything he’s showing us now [says] he can still improve.”

Repeat success

One Eye On Vegas, so named due to blindness in one eye, continued his excellent record at Leicester for Stuart Edmunds, recording a third win from four starts at the track, including this race last year.

Ridden by Charlie Hammond in the 2m4½f handicap hurdle, he was pushed all the way to the line as Cast’s Tasha forced a photo, but prevailed by a nose.

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