Zabeel Champion sparks Haydock double for O’Neill team

An Tailliur also obliges for father and son.

Father-and-son team Jonjo O’Neill and Jonjo O’Neill jnr enjoyed a successful afternoon at Haydock when coming away with a double.

On Challenger Series Final Day, the duo were triumphant firstly with Zabeel Champion, who scored in the Challenger Two Mile Hurdle Series Final Handicap Hurdle as the 11-4 favourite.

The race was the first time O’Neill jnr has ridden the horse, who is usually the mount of the injured Nick Scholfield.

“Nick unfortunately got injured in the week and I know from home that it’s a nice spare to get, so I’m delighted for Martin Tedham and the other owners,” he said.

“It’s nice to get a big win for them.

“He’s still getting the hang of things with his jumping, but this was only his fourth run and it’ll probably be next year that he tries the nicer races now.

“We’ll probably mix and match on the Flat, I think that was always the plan when we bought him. He’s in the low 100s (on the Flat) I think so we’ll see.”

O’Neill snr added: “He’s tough and he battled well, so we’re very happy with him.

“He needed to be on a nice mark as he only just got there, but when they win everything is right and he knuckled down well to be fair to him.

“We’ll see what happens now and get over this first as this was the plan, but the good thing is he’s getting the hang of his jumping now and hopefully he’s going the right way.”

The O’Neill family then enjoyed a second success on the card as An Tailliur, the 3-1 favourite, landed the Challenger Stayers Hurdle Series Final Handicap Hurdle by a length and a quarter.

“It’s been a great day and he’s a great little horse who keeps on improving. When we got him he was like a little goat at first and climbed the walls and all sorts,” the trainer said.

“I was wondering what on earth we had here, but he settled in well and he really enjoys his racing.

“He likes good ground and he’s improved way beyond expectations, which is nice as that rarely happens! We’ve got a great owner (Pat Hickey) who’s very patient and we’ve been able to take our time with him.

“He had a good few races earlier in the season, so we gave him a bit of a break and he certainly needed this a bit as he was tying up at the end. He hung on which was the main thing and he’ll go through the summer now as he wants the good ground.

“We haven’t really got a plan but the owner is from Galway, so we’ll take a look at that and maybe go there for a day out.”

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