Teahupoo is back for his fourth festival but is he ready to go back-to-back in the Stayers' Hurdle?

It’s amazing to think Teahupoo is only eight because it feels as though he has been around forever. This will already be his fourth visit to the festival and his record at the course was decidedly average before his comfortable victory in this race 12 months ago.

He has gone from being a horse who some thought didn’t like the track to one who has no problem with it and his two previous defeats at the festival have also been explained, with former rider Davy Russell arguing in last week’s Racing Post Teahupoo is best fresh.

Teahupoo had recorded wins at Gowran Park in the first two months of the year before his defeats at the festival in 2022 and 2023, but last year he didn’t run after his Hatton’s Grace victory at Fairyhouse in December and that did the trick as he scored here after 102 days off.