McCoy comes off best in Moore 1-2
Gary Moore saw his son Jamie foiled by Tony McCoy as the two jockeys dominated the finish of the opening contest at Sandown Park this afternoon.
Brighton trainer Moore sent out a one-two in the Ladbrokes Freephone 0808 1000 421 Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle but it was McCoy, riding 8-1 chance Diego Cao, who got the better of 2-1 favourite Nation State, partnered by Moore jnr, in a driving finish.
They jumped the last together, but the champion just got Diego Cao home by three parts of a length.
“It looked to me as if Nation State just got outstayed up the hill,” said the trainer.
“I thought the winner would make a decent hurdler this season and he looked good when he won at Huntingdon, only to let me down a bit at Warwick last time out, when he met the last all wrong.
“The other horse has just got a bit more speed and a bit less stamina, and he didn’t appreciate the uphill finish so much.”
First and second are both generally available at 33-1 for Cheltenham’s JCB Triumph Hurdle in March.
Third-placed Iron Man did well to stick on for each-way punters given the appalling mess he made of the second-last flight under Timmy Murphy.
The jockey was standing in for Tony Dobbin, who was stranded in his Cumbria home after a night of high winds and localised flooding.
