McManus purchase Dieg Man destroys rivals on British debut

Not many expensive purchases make their British debuts in this corner of north of England, but trainer Neil Mulholland chose the 2m4f novice hurdle for conditional riders for Dieg Man, who was bought for €200,000 on behalf of JP McManus at Arqana in July.

The four-year-old is certainly not short of experience as he had run five times in France before he got off the mark by winning a four-year-old handicap at Auteuil in June.

Sent off at 4-5 to follow up with a penalty, he scored with the minimum of fuss. He travelled really well under Harry Reed who allowed him to stride clear running down the hill and he was by no means extended to beat Free Range, who had won at Fakenham recently, by 12 lengths.