Haydock: Bristol De Mai wins Peter Marsh Chase as Alary pulled up

The grey Bristol De Mai (right) beat runner-up Otago Trail by 22 lengths

Bristol De Mai romped home to win the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock as the well-touted Alary disappointed.

The six-year-old victor, ridden by Noel Fehily, was cut to about 16-1 from 66-1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.

Alary, trained by Colin Tizzard, had been considered a Gold Cup hope but was pulled up before the third last fence.

Bristol De Mai sealed a Haydock double for Nigel Twiston-Davies after The New One became the first horse to win the Champion Hurdle Trial three times.

The nine-year-old, ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies for his trainer father, produced a gutsy display to edge past runner-up Clyne.

Unbeaten Neon Wolf ran out a nine-length victor of the novices' hurdle, while 2014 Champion Hurdle winner Jezki returned from a 632-day absence with a comfortable success at Navan.

Earlier, Ascot's Grade One meeting and Taunton's card on Saturday were called off because of frozen ground.

The Ascot fixture was due to feature the Clarence House Chase, which has been rescheduled to take place at Cheltenham on Festival Trials Day on 28 January.

Cheltenham will now have a nine-race card next week, with racing starting at midday.

Analysis

Cornelius Lysaght, BBC horse racing correspondent

Abandoned Ascot was billed as the day's top fixture, but had it been on, it'd have struggled to compete for interest with Haydock in terms of the build-up to March's Cheltenham Festival.

The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained pair The New One and Bristol De Mai showed off the fact they are players - not necessarily the biggest - but definitely players in whatever they go for at Cheltenham.

But the horse to really catch the eye was the Harry Fry-trained Neon Wolf who breezed home under jockey Noel Fehily (2-05) and will line-up in one of the Festival's big novice hurdles.