Wodhooh rescued Gordon Elliott's Cheltenham for the second successive season after a gutsy win in the Grade 1 Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle on Thursday.
The six-year-old was sent off the 5/6 favourite to follow up her Martin Pipe Conditionals Handicap Hurdle win from 12 months ago and she delivered under a delighted Jack Kennedy.
It wasn't without tension as she idled in front up the hill with Willie Mullins' Jade De Grugy bearing down on her, but she pulled out more than enough to win by a length.
14:40 Cheltenham - Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle result
1st WODHOOH 5/6 fav
2nd Jade De Grugy 2/1
3rd Feet Of A Dancer 8/1
Elliott said: “I’m absolutely delighted. She was idling halfway up the run in but picked up again. She’s some mare. It’s hard to know how good she is and we’re lucky to have her.
“We knew today was our best day. Oldschool Outlaw was second in the first, Teahupoo and Honesty Policy are to come in the Stayers’. We’ve a winner on the board now and three seconds.
“I’m just delighted for myself, all the staff and the owners. We’ve been hitting the crossbar but we’ve got the winner now. Some of them have been running badly but more have been running well and that’s the game we’re in.”
Kennedy said: “It has been a frustrating couple of days, but when you have a mare like her you are waiting on. You come here hopeful, but you are quietly confident you are going to get on the board and thankfully it came off.
“I had no winner here last year so to get that is brilliant and thankfully for Gordon, and all the team, they haven’t had to wait so long as last year so a massive thanks to them for all the hard work they put in.
“I was very happy the whole way. I just hit a bit of a flat spot coming down the hill, which she can do. I probably gave her a bit of a squeeze a little bit earlier as I arrived there plenty soon on her, but she is so honest nothing was going to get by her up the straight.
“She is very good in a lot of ways as she can get you out of trouble. At Leopardstown she was the same as she hit that flat spot and I only got there going to the last, but she was obviously a lot better coming here than she was going to Leopardstown as it was well documented that she had a bit of a cut on one of her joints. It is brilliant that it has all worked out.”