TRAINER Chris Gordon sent four runners to Haydock Park on Saturday, and went home with three winners and a runner-up. Two of his three victories were achieved with Irish-bred geldings, and they both won graded hurdle races.

The opening race on the card was the Grade 2 Betfair-sponsored Newton Novices’ Hurdle, won by the six-year-old gelding Diamond Hunter. The son of Diamond Boy (Mansonnien), who stands at Con O’Keeffe’s Kilbarry Lodge Stud, is the sire’s 12th blacktype winner, and hopefully will one day join Impaire Et Passe, Diamond Carl, and L’Homme Presse as a Grade 1 winner. The gelding’s trainer is of the firm belief that anything this horse achieves now is a bonus, and chasing next season will bring out the best in him.