LENSON DOOLIN made it third time lucky in the famous competition when producing a brilliant track record-breaking performance in Saturday’s £10,000 Ladbrokes Champion Hurdle Final at Crayford.

Trained by Ricky Holloway for Simon Trubshaw, the May 2019 son of Azza Azza Azza and The Other Tessa had given the track record a shake in the semi-finals but this time bettered the best previous figures held jointly by two other former Holloway stars in Razldazl Raidio and Droopys Cruiser.

Well away and soon in command in the 380m decider, Lenson Doolin never looked in any danger of defeat as he piled on the pressure up front and ran right away from his field, winning by no less than 12 and a half lengths from kennelmates Mustnt Touch It, Tullig Bee and Bennys Champ for a Holloway-trained 1-2-3-4.

The winning time for Lenson Doolin was 23.10sec (+10), eight spots inside the previous best.

Borna Rhythm (Tony Collett), last year’s champion when the event was held at Central Park, was fifth ahead of another Holloway-trained runner in Ritzy Spirit, crowded out of contention when making his move into the third bend, of a GBGB Category One competition his trainer dominated with five finalists.

In winning, Lenson Doolin, in his third Champion Hurdle final having run-up to Borna Rhythm last year, landed Ricky Holloway a sixth Champion Hurdle victory after wins for Soviet Military (2013), Razldazl Raidio (2016), both at Wimbledon, plus Lenson Wilson (2018), Turnhouse Jet (2019) and Tookmaker Daddy (2021), all at Central Park.

The victory also established a new record for the Crayford handler in terms of number of major big-race hurdles races landed – Springboks, Grand Nationals and Champion Hurdles – breaking a record jointly held by trainers Tommy Foster and Colin West.

He said: “That takes me above Tommy and Colin and I’m extremely proud to have achieved that with one of my best ever hurdlers in Lenson Doolin. To beat the track record in any final is great, but in these circumstances it’s extra special.

“The ‘Lenson’ prefix is very much Pat and Len Ponder’s and, at this very sad time for that lovely family, this victory means a whole lot more.”

For winning owner Simon Trubshaw, the Champion Hurdle victory of Lenson Doolin completed a set of major hurdles win for this hurdles-loving fan of the sport, and he was delighted with the four-year-old’s success at the Kent track.

“I thought he was brilliant and to break the track record is an added bonus,” he said. “I’ve always loved the hurdlers. They provide us with great excitement and I’m already looking ahead to the Springbok – I’ve got the ownership papers in my pocket for a dog who’s heading to Hove with Ricky for that competition in mind!

“Hopefully more tracks get involved with hurdles racing. I don’t live far from Towcester and it was good to see a hurdles race there last year on Derby final night. Hopefully they can be staged more regularly in future.”

Result: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=395977&raceId=929594