Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle (Grade 1)

LÁ Bealtaine, or perhaps better known as May Day, is said to represent new beginnings and brighter days ahead from May 1st, and Gordon Elliott will be hoping that Teahupoo’s Punchestown triumph can signal just that at the end of a challenging spring.

When your back is to the wall, reliable characters are always needed and what a candidate the Cullentra team could call on to plunder a second consecutive Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle.

Even after seeing his Cheltenham crown slip to Bob Olinger seven weeks earlier, there was market confidence behind the now five-time Grade 1 winner that saw him sent off 5/4 favourite. The field appeared to get racing from a fair way out and Sam Ewing was taking a pretty safety-first approach to the pace situation, but the race looked in the bag on the approach to the final flight.

Four and a quarter lengths was the final gap between himself and the field, with 11-year-old Asterion Forlonge (SP 18/1) finishing second in the race for the third year in succession on what proved to be his final start before retirement. Jetara ran on to snatch third from Winter Fog in the closing stages.

“This horse has got me out of trouble a few times and he’s done it again,” said Elliott, with Teahupoo having also got him off the mark on day three of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.

“I’m very lucky with the staff, jockeys, owners and horses that I have. We’ve been having a rough week, hitting the crossbar - a few of the younger horses just aren’t quite firing as I’d like them to - but to get a Grade 1 winner today is unbelievable.

“I was dreaming last night if Teahupoo could win today and Meath could win the Leinster Final, wouldn’t it just finish off what has been a rough season and turn it into a great season? It’s the end of the season and I can’t wait for it all to start again for next season on Monday.”

“Sam gave him a no-nonsense ride and kept it very simple. He’s a star of a horse. We’ll see what he does next year, we might give him another run in between.”

The success capped a sensational spring in the staying hurdles division for owners Robcour, having recorded a one-two in the Cheltenham equivalent and scooped the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree with Hiddenvalley Lake.

Long-range markets for the 2026 Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham have Teahupoo as 4/1 favourite (from 5/1), while Ballyburn is next in the market at 8/1.

Ewing, who was bringing up his sixth Grade 1 win of the season, added: “I’m delighted for the horse, the Robcour team and Gordon. He was a bit unlucky to run into Lossiemouth at Fairyhouse on his first start of the season and unlucky to be beaten at Cheltenham but it’s absolutely brilliant that he’s won today.

“He was unbeaten last year, he had two very good runs this year and it’s just brilliant that he’s won a Grade 1 again.

“Gordon told me to kick him on off the bend; Jack [Kennedy] did something similar last year on him. It was hustle and bustle but I pulled him out a bit wider than I was because I just wasn’t happy with how it was going to unfold going down the back and thankfully I got a nice position then.”

Beaten reaction

Marie Donnelly, owner of Asterion Forlonge

“He’s been a wonderful horse and we were hoping he’d go out with a flourish, which he did, I think. Paul [Townend] gave him an amazing ride and I’m delighted with him. I was laughing that he’s turned white like myself over the years! I always loved the way he ran, with his head down. He was a such a trier and we’ve loved him. For a moment I thought the dream might happen. We’ll miss him racing.”