THE New One won the Grade 2 stanjames.com International Hurdle for a third time with a courageous front-running display at Cheltenham.

With his chasing career put on hold after the abandonment of Exeter last week, The New One showed his well-being by adding this year's renewal to his wins in 2013 and 2014.

Scoring at Cheltenham for the sixth time, The New One (13-8 favourite) enjoyed the forceful tactics of Richard Johnson, who was riding the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained eight-year-old for the first time after his intended pilot, Ryan Hatch, was injured in a fall at Cheltenham on Friday.

My Tent Or Yours tried to make a race of it, but The New One kept on dourly to prevail by three and a half lengths.

Johnson said: "He's a lovely old horse and I'm very lucky to ride him today. Poor Ryan Hatch had a nasty fall yesterday, I'm sure he's watching frustrated but hopefully he'll be back soon.

"I was very pleased to get the ride, Sam (Twiston-Davies) told me how to ride him, he said he stays well and he kept finding. He really jumped the last quick and well and he's outstayed them really.

"He won here as a novice over two-five and they've always known he stays well. Maybe as he has got older he has lost some of his speed and Nigel told me to be positive.

"He's been a great horse, this is the third time he's won this race and very few horses do that and keep at this level for so long. I don't know if he will go chasing, but it was a great decision to run him today."

Frodon became only the second four-year-old to win the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup when outpointing older rivals in the valuable handicap chase.

Paul Nicholls sent out Unioniste at that tender age to score in 2012 and repeated the trick with Frodon (14-1), who was providing Sam Twiston-Davies with a big-race success after returning from injury.

Kylemore Lough took the lead before the second-last but Frodon, who had run better than his place suggested in the BetVictor Gold Cup last month, ranged up menacingly. Twiston-Davies drove him right out to land the spoils by a length and a half from Aso. Village Vic was a head away third and Quite By Chance fourth.

Nicholls said: "I enjoyed that, I thought he was awfully unlucky the last day. The rain suited him and I thought he'd go close today.

"Frodon's a good horse, he jumps well. They can all make the odd mistake, he's only a novice, but we put that right in the last month and he was a lot fresher today. He'd only run seven days before the BetVictor.

"The great thing is he is still a novice, we will mix and match but today was the day. It was great for Sam to have a winner on the big stage. It will have done his confidence the world of good."

Twiston-Davies said: "I said he had a good chance, and it's important for me coming back from injury to get a big one on the board for the boss - I couldn't be happier.

"If he hadn't made a mistake at the ditch down the back the last time, you wonder what might have been. I was happy with my position and that's what we wanted to do today, give him a bit of space and the right horses to aim at.

"He jumped the last really nicely, but when the ground is like this, it's a long old run-in. These days are very important. He's brave and it's a very special day."