Botox Has battled on in tenacious fashion to give Caoilin Quinn the biggest success in his career to date when taking out Grade 2 bet365 Hurdle at Wetherby.
The Gary Moore-trained gelding stayed on dourly in testing conditions to get the better of a prolonged dual with Red Risk [15/2].
As expected, the 7/4 joint-favourite Dashel Drasher adopted his customary position at the head of affairs and although he looked to have his four rivals in trouble three flights from home, fitness soon told on this reappearance outing and he faded back into third under Rex Dingle.
In contrast, fitness proved no problem for Gary Moore's Botox Has, who was having his first start since finishing fourth behind Dashel Drasher [second] in the Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham 280 days ago, as the seven-year-old kept on strongly to score at odds of 15/2.
Fellow joint 7/4 market leader Thyme Hill stayed on to finish fourth on his first outing of the season.
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."
Paddy Power cut the winner from 14/1 to 8/1 for the Betfair Exchange Stayers' Handicap Hurdle run at Haydock on November 25.
Earlier on the card, You Wear It Well earned herself quotes of 8/1 [from 12/1] for the Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival last March.
The Jamie Snowden-trained winner has already enjoyed Cheltenham Festival glory having won the Jack de Bromhead Mares' Novices' Hurdle last year and the six-year-old, who was making her seasonal reappearance this afternoon, stayed on strongly to run out a convincing all-the-way three-length winner of this Listed prize. 11/8 favourite Luccia travelled kindly but couldn't match the winner in the closing stages, with Kateira from the Dan Skelton yard finishing a well-held third.
"It's very special. She had a penalty for those Grade 2 wins last season, so to do that with that penalty is great first time out," said Snowden.
"She's big and strong and she's a legend. Gav gave her a wonderful ride. She's quite feisty and takes a bit of riding, so fair play to the whole team.
"We were probably a little bit keen and a little bit fresh early on, but she's jumped great bar the last and picked up well and galloped to the line."
"We were thinking about going chasing with her this year, but the mares' hurdle programme is a lot better than the mares' chase programme," Snowden added.
"We're quite keen to stay in mares' company, so you've got the Sandown race, the Warwick race and then Cheltenham in March. That looks the obvious thing to do, but we'll take it step by step."
