Gary Moore is keen for a crack at the Ladbrokes Long Walk Hurdle with Botox Has after his winning return at Wetherby.

The game seven-year-old had been off the track since finishing fourth in Cheltenham’s Cleeve Hurdle in January and pulled out arguably a career-best performance to deny Red Risk by a length in the West Yorkshire Hurdle.

That was the second time he has struck at Grade Two level and his handler was thrilled to see him return from 280 days off in such brilliant form.

“It was good to see him back on form, he’s a big-hearted horse who tries really hard,” said Moore.

“It worried me when he made a mistake two out, but he stuck to his guns and won quite well in the end.”

Botox Has holds an entry for the Betfair Exchange Stayers’ Handicap Hurdle at Haydock later this month – a race he won 12 months ago.

However, Moore is keen to stick to the graded route in a division without a standout performer and is eyeing up a first run in Grade One company at Ascot on December 23.

“I hope to train him for the Long Walk Hurdle now, that’s what I hope the plan will be,” he added.

“Whether he won the other day because he was fitter than the rest of them and because he had been trained for that race, I don’t know? He always does run well fresh, but I hope he can improve on that.

“It’s probably not quite the strongest division there is.”

Botox Has provided Caoilin Quinn with the most notable success of his riding career so far with victory in a gruelling renewal of the bet365 West Yorkshire Hurdle at Wetherby.

The conditional jockey won a valuable handicap hurdle on the Betfair Chase undercard at Haydock last season aboard Gary Moore’s seven-year-old, who is also a former winner of the National Spirit Hurdle at Fontwell under the trainer’s son, Josh.

Botox Has had not been seen in competitive action since finishing fourth in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham in January – and while Quinn was unable to use his claim in this Grade Two contest, he proved more than up to the job.

Much of the pre-race focus was on the Philip Hobbs-trained Thyme Hill and Jeremy Scott’s stable star Dashel Drasher, two high-class performers on the staying hurdling scene.

Dashel Drasher adopted his customary role at the front, but it was hard work from some way out, while the other 7-4 joint-favourite Thyme Hill was unable to land a telling blow in the testing conditions.

Botox Has (15-2) himself was off the bridle early in the straight but kept pulling out more and recovered from an untidy leap at the final obstacle to get the better of Red Risk by a length, with Dashel Drasher narrowly beating Thyme Hill to third place.

Quinn said: “It’s unbelievable, I’m speechless, to be honest, what a performance that was. He was giving weight away to a lot of them, but one thing he has on his side is he’s very tough.

“When push comes to shove, he digs deep. I didn’t think he enjoyed the ground today, we thought he would, as he does like it soft, but for whatever reason he didn’t travel as well as he did when I rode him at Haydock.

“It’s very tiring ground and I just thought it was the best thing to go and let him pop the last, but I knew he had loads left.

“It’s an unbelievable training performance. I’ve said to loads of people, he (Gary Moore) is an absolute genius.

“He’s had his problems this horse, he had a niggling problem which meant he didn’t go to the Cheltenham Festival last season. He (Moore) has got him back as good as ever and I’m very grateful.”

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.