The New One right in Champion Hurdle picture

The New One made a scintillating return to action as he left Rock On Ruby trailing in his wake in the William Hill - Download The App Hurdle.

So impressive in the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March before being narrowly denied by Zarkandar at Aintree, the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained The New One was the 1/2 favourite for his seasonal comeback.

He faced a formidable opponent in Harry Fry's Rock On Ruby, winner of the Champion Hurdle in 2012 and runner-up to Hurricane Fly in the same race last term.

Rank outsider Coronea Lilly took the four-runner field along in the early stages of the Listed contest, but Rock On Ruby took over heading down the back straight.

Despite putting down on Noel Fehily at one of the obstacles, he was still seemingly going well as he rounded the home turn, but Sam Twiston-Davies shadowed his every move aboard The New One.

Just as it looked as though the two were going to engaged in a thrilling duel, The New One showed stunning acceleration to settle the race within in a matter of strides.

The five-year-old pulled clear between the final two flights and skipped over the last.

Twiston-Davies was then able to look behind him and pat his horse down the neck as The New One cruised to a 10-length success.

The winning trainer said: "That's what we were hoping for. We were worried about the fact that he'd not had much hurdling experience in his life, but that was great and he jumped so well.

"He showed an amazing set of gears coming into the straight. We'll look at the Bula Hurdle (International Hurdle) at Cheltenham and then possibly come back here for the Christmas Hurdle.

"There's definitely more to come - he'll improve on that. He does seem exceptional."

Asked how The New One ranks in the list of horses he has trained, the Naunton handler said: "I haven't really had any Champion Hurdle types before, apart from Khyber Kim who was second to Binocular (2010). He was very good. I would say he (The New One) is a lot better than Khyber Kim."

Fry had already planned on stepping his charge up in distance for the two-mile-three-furlong Coral Hurdle at Ascot on November 23 and that remains a likely target.

Fry said: "I'm disappointed we couldn't give The New One more of a race. He was a very impressive winner and we'll have to go back to the drawing board now.

"We had planned to step him up in trip and we'll probably still do that at Ascot, but we'll have to see how he comes out of this race and go from there. There is definitely improvement to come from him, but we are a bit disappointed."