Teahupoo (Masked Marvel) wins the Grade I Paddy Power Stayers Hurdle at The Cheltenham Festival for owners Robcour and trainer Gordon Elliott.
Having captured his second consecutive Hatton’s Grace hurdle on his only start this season, Teahupoo was a warm order for this and was sent off at 5/4f. He put in a slick round of jumping under Jack Kennedy and showed real determination up the run in to power clear of previous dual winner Flooring Porter to win comfortably at the line.
After the race Elliott said “He’s best fresh so we said we’d come straight here. I was a little anxious when he missed the second-last and then he probably got there too soon because he had to give him a squeeze. I think he’s a stronger horse this year and saddling him I thought he’d grown. He’ll stay hurdling, we’ll never say never but at the moment he’ll stay hurdling. There are some nice races at Aintree and Punchestown for him so we’ll have a look at those.”
Teahupoo was purchased privately for connections.
