Teahupoo's Stayers' Hurdle triumph close to average winning figure - but the best could be yet to come

It is traditionally the weakest of the headline races – only 2016 winner Thistlecrack has broken the 170 barrier in the past decade – and, figures wise, this year's Stayers' Hurdle was very much in line with recent runnings of the race.

Rated 168 on a couple of occasions last season, Teahupoo didn't enjoy the best of runs when only third in a much stronger-run race last season but after quickly recovering from a mistake at the second-last ran out a decisive winner on Thursday.

A winning RPR of 165 falls just a pound shy of the ten-year-average winning rating for the race, a steady pace contributing to a relatively bunched finish with the winner clocking a time around six seconds slower than that recorded by Monmiral (143) in the Pertemps Final earlier on the card.