Mighty Quinn steers Botox Has to big win

Conditional jockey claims Grade Two glory in the bet365 Hurdle at Wetherby on Gary Moore’s battler.

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.”

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