BALLYANDY got up in the final stride to deny Pentland Hills in a dramatic finish to Grade 2 The New One Unibet Hurdle at Haydock.
Pentland Hills was in front jumping the last, but Sam Twiston-Davies conjured a great run out of Ballyandy (5/2) – similar to that on Stolen Silver earlier on the card – to pip last season’s Triumph Hurdle hero.
What a finish!
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 18, 2020
Ballyandy gets up for an unlikely victory in The New One Unibet Hurdle.
Another @samtwiston special, and a fitting victory for the Twiston-Davies team in the race named after their stable star @haydockraces pic.twitter.com/zQJ72bGq17
Fighting Fifth victor Cornerstone Lad made a gallant bid to lead all the way, but Pentland Hills, the 2/1 favourite, was just waiting in the wings to pounce.
Nicky Henderson’s runner went on under Nico de Boinville, but he had no answer to the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Ballyandy, who snatched the spoils by a nose right on the line in the race registered as the Champion Hurdle Trial Hurdle.