The New One starts out in Kempton again Nigel Twiston-Davies' stable star The New One begins his season on Sunday at Kempton for the third year running. The seven-year-old is going for a hat-trick in the Listed hurdle race, having landed short odds the previous two years. In 2013 he was sent off as the 1-2 favourite and beat Rock On Ruby by 12 lengths and a year later he was an even more prohibitive 2-11 and was unextended to beat Hint Of Mint by nearly three lengths. After winning this race last season, The New One went on to land a valuable new race at Haydock and was back to something approaching his best when beating Vaniteux in the International at Cheltenham in December. He then went back to Haydock and made hard work of landing odds of 1-6 in the Champion Hurdle Trial before finishing a lacklustre fifth in the Champion Hurdle itself behind Faugheen, when the trainer feels he was some way below his best. Twiston-Davies obviously sees no point in changing a routine that has served him well in the past. "We have just kept him sound and well and he is in really good form," he said. "We are hopeful that he is back to his best, but we will see on Sunday. "The Champion Hurdle is the aim as he was only beaten eight lengths in it this year when he was not right. "He's the same as he has been the last two years. He should win this nicely." The New One still holds a very special place in the affections of his rider, Sam Twiston-Davies. He said: "He's the horse who got me to this stage and gave me the confidence to ride for Paul Nicholls. "I truly believe in him and I truly believe in my dad, so I do hope that when he was an unlucky third in that first Champion Hurdle, that wasn't the one he missed out on." The New One faces five rivals - Stephanie Frances, Rayvin Black, Mr Lando, Landscape and his own stablemate Red Riverman.
