Flooring Porter stars at Cheltenham while big-name owner hails odds 'hard to resist' after landing big punt

Flooring Porter returned to the scene of his two Stayers’ Hurdle victories to make a stylish start over fences for Gavin Cromwell in the 3m½f novice chase.

The eight-year-old, who drifted to 6-4 in the betting, held off the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained pair Broadway Boy and Weveallbeencaught to give his trainer a third victory at the two-day fixture.

Flooring Porter was recording a first success since the second of his Cheltenham Festival victories in March 2022 and, akin to the support given to Frankie Dettori on Champions Day last week, the Flooring Porter Syndicate burst into song as he made a welcome return to the winner's enclosure.

Flooring Porter is now 10-1 with Betfair Sportsbook to complete a festival treble in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.

Cromwell said: "I'm delighted with that. He jumped really well apart from a few, but for his first time over fences that was a good performance. You still have to be happy with that and he won well. I thought he could do that, I'm delighted he has though. He went to the top of the hill travelling well, so it's good to see the engine is still there.

“This was a case of seeing how we got on and then go from there. He'd have to step up plenty but looking at his hurdles rating, hopefully he can. I'm not sure where we'd go next, he's a bit limited as he's much better going left-handed."

Punt landed for owner

Blueking D'Oroux drifted to 5-2 (from 11-8) in the Masterson Holdings Hurdle, but the price was a bonus for owner Johnny de la Hey.

“I was walking out the paddock and I saw he was 9-4 – I’d taken him at 13-8 last night – and walked over and thought happy days,” he said. “It was okay money, I enjoy the racing more than betting, but that price was hard to resist. On ratings, he deserved to win and everyone else had to improve to beat him.”

The four-year-old held off Jilaijone decisively to register a first victory of the season and tee up a shot at big handicaps. He was cut to 9-1 (from 14) for the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham next month.

Blueking D'Oroux: landed a punt for owner Johnny de la HeyCredit: JOHN GROSSICK

De la Hey added: “I thought he did that pretty easily. There’s the Greatwood, which he’s entered in, and we could look at, but there’s also the big one at Ascot in December. 

“I’ve got a few younger horses this year, Captain Teague leads the ranks but Wrappedupinmay ran well and is more of a stayer. It’s been an exciting start.”

The victory was the 50th of the season for Harry Cobden.

Pertemps pointer

Shoot First went into the Cheltenham Festival as a hot Pertemps Final favourite after his success in the qualifier at this fixture last year and Nicky Henderson hopes Saturday’s winner Hyland can also prove a force in that contest in the spring.

Nicky Henderson wins the Pertemps qualifier with 9-1 shot HylandCredit: Alan Crowhurst

The 9-1 chance stalked front-runner Flight Deck throughout and skipped clear after the last to record a two-length win. He was made a 16-1 shot by Coral for his target, which Shoot First missed late on through injury.

Victory was particularly special for The Ten From Seven syndicate manager David Sumpter, who said: “I’ve been running syndicates since 1988 and this is my first Cheltenham winner.

"Everybody wants winners here, and I’ve had lots of winners over the years and that was my 99th, but to get one here is great. He'll be back for the festival.  

“I’m overwhelmed by the whole thing. It was getting too soft as he likes top of the ground, but he handled it superbly. That was just great.”

Narrow winner

Max McNeill’s Butch proved himself a smart staying type for the season in the 3m novice hurdle.

The Olly Murphy-trained six-year-old beat favourite Antrim Coast by a neck under Sean Bowen as the front two served up a brilliant finish. 

“I was so nervous, and I thought we got beat,” McNeill said. “To be fair to Antrim Coast, I thought he had got past us. We love coming here and the horse has proven he's an out-and-out stayer and that is why we wanted to make it a test. Sean was fantastic and he read the script well.”

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