Diego sees Hennessy double up in Maiden Derby at Towcester

HELLO DIEGO credited Irish trainer Paul Hennessy with a second successive victory in the event by outstaying long-time leader Ballybough Nutz to land the £10,000 BetGoodwin & JR Racing Syndicate Maiden Derby final over 500m at Towcester.

For much of the of the Category One contest it seemed that Ballybough Nutz had slipped his field, taking early command on the inside and capitalising on the Hennessy-trained favourite Lennies Desire completely fluffing his lines at the start.

However, the powerful Hello Diego had also broken well and, although shuffled back to fourth round the first two bends, he stayed within striking distance.

Up front, Ballybough Nutz was digging in to hold off the challenge of Burrows Charm but Hello Diego was in full flight by three-quarters and mowed the leaders down on the run-in.

At the line, he was a length to the good of Ballybough Nutz in a very smart 28.97sec with Lennies Desire doing a huge amount of running himself to take third.

Hennessy, who had taken the competition in 2024 with Jaytee Etienne, said afterwards: "Please God it's the [English] Derby next for them both. I'm really pleased for [winning owner] Paul Hynes who is a long-time patron and had a Derby finalist at Wimbledon back in the day with Ullid Conor."