Potters Charm won the Grade One Formby Novices' Hurdle at Aintree | report and replay

William Twiston-Davies, assistant to his father and winning trainer Nigel, has made no secret of the high regard in which the stable hold Potters Charm and the dream is still alive after a hard-fought success in the two mile Grade One contest that was run in thick fog.

Visibility was patchy but Potters Charm, winner of a Grade Two at Cheltenham over two miles five furlongs last time, was always in the front rank with Roadlesstravelled and Celtic Dino for company along with Miami Magic.

Potters Charm had seen off all but Miami Magic by the time they approached the final flight and kept on stoutly under a strong drive from Sam Twiston-Davies under the stands' side rail to win by two and a quarter lengths.

Potters Charm was introduced into the betting for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at 14/1 by both Betfair Sportsbook and Paddy Power who also cut the winner to 8/1 from 14s for the Turners Novices' Hurdle.

It was a first Grade One success for trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies since Bristol De Mai landed the 2020 Betfair Chase and Potters Charm will now head straight to the Cheltenham Festival.

Willy Twiston-Davies said: “He has done nothing wrong. To drop back to two miles and win so impressively….the horse does the talking and it’s very exciting. He has always gone nicely and his work is finally starting to improve after his last run.

“We thought he was very nice going to Ffos Las and then that’s when we woke up and thought we might have something very special. First time out over hurdles at Worcester I was a bit disappointed because thought he was a certainty and he only won by three lengths but like Sam said he only does enough in front. He is a very, very talented horse.

“I spoke to Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton and talked about how the Challow [Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury] can finish a horse for the season, so I thought by coming here we could drop him in trip and sharpen up his jumping.

“We will now go back up to two and a half miles at Cheltenham [for the Turners Novices’ Hurdle] and he won’t have a run beforehand. He has proved him by winning a Grade One and a Grade Two. We hoped we had another The New One and it looks like we have. It’s great to win a Grade One over Christmas as, like Sam said, we haven’t had one for a while and he puts our stable back in the lights.”

Sam Twiston-Davies added: “You are always nervous coming into a race like this. It was his on paper to go and lose and thankfully he hasn’t.

“We thought that if we are going to go to Cheltenham with any kind of realistic chance he needs to do things quicker so we decided to run him over an inadequate trip and make him do it. The good thing was he made some brilliant jumps down the back. He was awful three out and two out and was then clever at the last. Hopefully the experience won’t be lost on him come March.

“He has always been a good jumper but just a little but big. When you go The Festival, you want a horse that can jump with pace and not make any fiddly little errors or getting too high in the air. Hopefully he is ironed that out now and will go to Cheltenham with a right chance.”

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