Doom Bar Anniversary 4-Y-O Novices' Hurdle
Grade 1, Aintree 14:20
£100,000 added,
4yo only,
2m 209y, Class 1   
Thursday 4th April 2019

1 Pentland Hills 11/4
2 Fakir D'Oudairies 5/2
3 Christopher Wood 10/1
9 ran Distances: nk, 6l, nk
Time: 4m 13.60s (slow by 13.60s)

Triumph Hurdle hero Pentland Hills follows up with a hard-fought success over Fakir D'Oudairies

Pentland Hills backed up his win in the G1 JCB Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival with a game success here.
 
Trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Nico de Boinville, the four-year-old son of Motivator, travelled with menace throughout the two-mile contest and responded willing in the closing stages to master long-time leader Fakir D'Oudairies, trained by Joseph O'Brien and partnered by Mark Walsh, to score by a neck.
 
Pentland Hills, formerly trained on the Flat by Chris Wall, is unbeaten over hurdles for the Seven Barrows maestro, having also captured a maiden hurdle at Plumpton in February on his first start for the Lambourn handler.
 
Pentland Hills is the latest horse since Defi Du Seuil in 2017 to win both the JCB Triumph Hurdle and G1 Doom Bar Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle.
 
Britain's champion Jump trainer said: "Pentland Hills has had has three races in not much more than five weeks but he was tough there - he travelled well through the race and had a battle on, but he toughed it out. I am thrilled with him and he has been an absolute star all the way through.

"He made a right mess of the first at Cheltenham, when I thought Nico was going to come out through his ears. I thought 'Henderson, you are an idiot, you cannot run a horse at Cheltenham with only one run under his belt - that's was happens with no experience' and actually he was brilliant from then on. He was so quick and clean through today as well.

"What about running him on the Flat because he is awfully well-handicapped? I don't know - I would like to treat him as a proper hurdler and I would be pretty sure that we will put him away.

"You know what it is like for these four-year-olds coming into their second season. How many times have we seen the winner of the Triumph Hurdle or this race - we won here with dear We Have A Dream last year and sadly we lost him this week - and you never know who goes on. Some can and sometimes they just find that second year terribly difficult.

"I can't say that Pentland Hills is not a Champion Hurdle horse - I would love to think he is - and I think there must be improvement in him as well with a summer out. It's a matter of whether we treat him as a jumper but it must be tempting to have one look at the Flat with him, although I am a jumps trainer."
 
Pentland Hills is a 12/1 shot with Betway, 16/1 with bet365 and 20/1 with William Hill for next year's Unibet Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
 
Fakir D'Oudairies earned a quote of 25/1 for the Champion Hurdle with William Hill.

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Doom Bar Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle (Grade 1)
£100,000 added, 4yo only, 2m 209y, Class 1
9 ran
Going: Good to Soft

Pos D Horse SP Jockey Weight Trainer Age
1st Pentland Hills (IRE) 11/4 Nico de Boinville
11-0
N J Henderson 4
2nd nk Fakir D'Oudairies (FR) 5/2 M P Walsh
11-0 		Joseph P O'Brien 4
3rd 6 Christopher Wood (IRE) 10/1 H Cobden
11-0 		P F Nicholls 4
4th nk Adjali (GER) 14/1 D A Jacob
11-0 		N J Henderson 4
5th 4½ Band of Outlaws (IRE) 9/4f J J Slevin
11-0 		Joseph P O'Brien 4
6th 15 Song For Someone (GER) 25/1 Aidan Coleman
11-0 		T Symonds 4
7th 5 Fanfan Du Seuil (FR) 20/1 P J Brennan
11-0 		T R George 4
8th 29 Statuario 100/1 Sean Bowen
11-0 		P Bowen 4
PU   Beat The Judge (IRE) 40/1 Joshua Moor
11-0		 G L Moore 4

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