Horse profile: Teahupoo

The feature race on day three at the Cheltenham Festival is the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle where Gordon Elliott's reigning champion Teahupoo will bid to stamp his class on the division.

The Robcour runner is less spotted on the racetrack these days but goes especially well fresh and has a strong claim in his quest for successive wins.

Teahupoo and his connections will believe this division is theirs to dominate, but can he live up to the hype?

Time for a dominant stayer?

In recent years it has been a fairly consistent theme to label the stayers' division over hurdles a weak one.

We haven't truly seen a dominant force since Big Buck's won his fourth and final Stayers' Hurdle in 2012.

In the intervening time, only Flooring Porter has managed successive wins, as the likes of Cole Harden, Penhill and Paisley Park ultimately failed to take this race by the scruff of the neck in multiple years.

Teahupoo could be that force. He was a luckless third as stablemate Sire Du Berlais won in 2023 and then last year atoned for that with a dominant win under Jack Kennedy as Flooring Porter filled the runner-up berth.

Still just eight-years-old, the chance is right there for Teahupoo to come out and make this race his own.

Favourite to thrive again

Big Buck's completed his four-timer in this race by winning three times as market leader but, since 2012, only Thistlecrack and Paisley Park had managed to justify heading the betting until Teahupoo obliged as 5/4 jolly last time around.

The Elliott runner followed up at Punchestown, dismissing Asterion Forlonge by more than six-lengths to sign his season off.

This year, he has had just one stop on his way back to the Cotswolds, chasing home Lossiemouth in the Hatton's Grace at Fairyhouse over two-and-a-half-miles in December.

That was a solid effort in a small-field affair over a trip short of his optimum and against a quality mare getting a 7lb allowance.

Previous to that Fairyhouse defeat, Teahupoo's record when returning from a break of 90 days or more read 11111, giving rise to the idea that his trainer has plotted this season to perfection.

He should be primed for this Festival defence and that makes Teahupoo a dangerous weapon. It has long been touted that he could be the next horse to really dominate this race and while his season is geared largely towards one prize, that has to have a fine chance of coming true.

Robcour rivals could be the dangers

The Stayers' Hurdle field could witness three contenders in the Robcour silks, with both Bob Olinger and Hiddenvalley Lake also expected to challenge for Henry De Bromhead.

Hiddenvalley Lake was second-best in the Long Walk at Ascot in December, beaten a head by Crambo, but will need to bounce back from a lesser effort at Gowran Park in the John Mulhern Galmoy Hurdle in January.

Bob Olinger is another possible livewire. He may be a 10-year-old now but he doesn't have big miles on the clock and this Cotswolds-lover boasts a 3-3 record at Cheltenham, including two Festival wins.

His last start here saw him win the Relkeel Hurdle on New Year's Day in 2024 and he's very much unexposed at three-miles, having finished second to Home By The Lee at Leopardstown in a Christmas Grade 1 on his first attempt last time out.

BetVictor sign up offer Ireland