THE New One’s Stan James Champion Hurdle preparations neared completion yesterday with a promising schooling session at Naunton.

Jockey Sam Twiston-Davies was delighted with the jumping practice and will hope for more luck at next week’s Cheltenham Festival than last year.

The New One has been well placed by Cotswold trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies this season and won more money than any other National Hunt horse, apart from Gold Cup hope Silviniaco Conti.

He is unbeaten since being badly hampered by the fatal fall of Our Conor in the 2014 Champion Hurdle when finishing third.

Sam Twiston-Davies said: “The New One did his last bit of schooling and jumped class. Fingers crossed for Tuesday!”

He is stable jockey for champion jumps trainer Paul Nicholls, but will team up again with his father for The New One ride.

The seven-year-old was an unconvincing winner at Haydock last time out in January.

But Sam Twiston-Davies said: “Everyone is allowed an off-day — that is what we are putting Haydock down to — and yet he still won.

“There’s no doubt he wasn’t quite as good as he had been but the ground was desperate. Who knows if he’d have won at Cheltenham last year? But in races like that you can’t afford to lose a length and we lost nearly ten.”

As well as facing dual-winner Hurricane Fly and last year’s hero Jezki on Tuesday, The New One, priced at around 3-1, will also come up against Willie Mullins’ red-hot favourite Faugheen.

“Both ourselves and Faugheen have been beating inferior horses this season but it’s a bit like boxers sparring before a fight,” he said. “It seems like it’s the Twiston-Davies family versus Ireland, though!”

Any Currency, trained by Martin Keighley in Condicote, is favourite for the Cross Country Handicap Chase on Wednesday.

n Minella Rocco (2-5 favourite) handed top jockey Tony McCoy and Temple Guiting trainer Jonjo O’Neill the first leg of a double at Newbury.

The pair completed the brace when Bandit Country (9-2) won on his first outing over fences.

Favourites Ballybolley (5-6) and Major Malarkey (5-4) won for Nigel Twiston-Davies at Kelso, as did the O’Neill-trained Rayak (15-2) at Newbury.

Stow-on-the-Wold handler David Bridgwater secured successes with favourites De Kerry Man (1-2) at Fakenham and Nomadic Storm (10-11) at Southwell.