Gordon Elliott got his first winner of the week thanks to the well-backed Teahupoo in the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
The Robcour-owned horse was sent off a strong 5/4 favourite to go two places better than last year and he travelled through the race with verve under Jack Kennedy.
It looked an open contest jumping the last, though, as Flooring Porter renewed his effort and Home By The Lee and Buddy One got themselves into contention, but Teahupoo found more to score by three-and-three-quarter lengths.
Two-time winner Flooring Porter finished second, with Home By The Lee taking third place. The winning owners and trainer run Gerri Colombe in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday.
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Elliott said: "He’s best fresh so we said we’d come straight here. Listen, it’s great to get a winner. They’ve been running well, just hitting the crossbar, they’ve had no excuses but to win the Stayers’ Hurdle is unbelievable and I’m delighted for the whole team.
"It’s difficult to tell myself to stay patient when you don’t have a winner, it’s been a long couple of days but they’ve bene running well. We’ve got one now. This was always going to be our best day, this was one of our biggest guns.
"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."
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