Teahupoo lived up to the hype and proved himself a champion in Thursday’s Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
The horse that a year previously had got shuffled around, both on the track and in the stewards’ room, got his own back to justify widespread public support that saw him start a 5-4 favourite.
Built up as a rare non-Mullins Irish banker on the approach to the festival, Teahupoo put any stamina doubts to bed, and despite a blunder two out got the better of former dual-winner Flooring Porter with Home By The Lee in third. The first seven home were Irish-trained.
It was back-to-back Stayers for Gordon Elliott after saddling last year’s shock 33-1 winner Sire Du Berlais, who this time had to settle for fifth.
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Despite winning 12 months previously, Elliott wasn’t alone in suspecting Teahupoo might have left it behind him. An erratic route up the straight saw him go by the post third, get promoted to second by the stewards, only to be put back to third again in an appeal hearing.
It was a long road back, feeling perhaps even longer through Elliott’s determination to focus everything on a festival return. A second Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse in December was Teahupoo’s only previous start this season.
“This was always the plan with Teahupoo. He runs well fresh and so we came straight here. I was a bit anxious at the top of the hill when he missed the secondlast, and then he probably got there a bit soon as he had to give him a squeeze.
“But I had loads of confidence in Jack [Kennedy] as he’s a world-class jockey and you don’t need to tell him what to do,” he added.
Like his boss, Kennedy had been hitting the bar this week, but his confidence in Teahupoo was obvious.
“He makes my job very easy. You can put him wherever you want in a race and he jumps great. He is a pleasure to ride. We missed the second last, but other than that it was all straightforward,” he said.
There was a sting in the tail for Kennedy who was suspended for three days for careless riding after turning into the home straight. It was his second such ban this week.
A much bigger sting was Brighterdaysahead’s defeat to Golden Ace in the Mares’ Novice Hurdle. After getting the best of some tight riding before the turn-in, the 5-6 favourite still couldn’t hold off the winner.
“We didn’t go much of a gallop and she was a bit keen with me. I had to try to get her settled, which wasn’t ideal, and it just didn’t really work out, but she ran a good race,” Kennedy said. “I knew I needed a good jump at the last, and I got it, but I was just beaten by a better horse on the day. I still believe in her 100 per cent.”
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The second Irish winner of the day was a hugely impressive Kim Muir success for JP McManus’s Inothewayurthinkin, who defied topweight and justified plenty of market support in the process.
It set jockey Derek O’Connor up for a unique hat-trick on Friday when he rides the favourite Its On The Line in the Hunters’ Chase.
O’Connor and the Englishman John Oaksey are the only riders to win the festival’s three big amateur contests. After winning on Corbetts Cross in Tuesday’s National Hunt Chase, and now Inothewayurthinkin, the Irishman can pull off all three in a single week.
“I thought passing the stands it was going to take an awful lot of luck, he was so far back. He was jumping very big and slow and wasn’t helping Derek. But he’s a very cool person, Derek,” said trainer Gavin Cromwell.
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