THE feature event at Haydock last Saturday was the Peter Marsh Chase but in the event the performance that prompted more comment than any other at the meeting came from Champion Hurdle hopeful Pentland Hills in The New One Unibet Hurdle, one of two hurdles races over the minimum trip (the other being the Rossington Main) on the card that followed an oddly similar pattern.

Not only did the keen-racing favourite in each race throw away what seemed a race-winning advantage close home to a Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained runner, but both races were run at an even tempo in near-identical times and in near-identical fractions.