Woodhoh to the rescue again!

Just like 12 months ago, Woodhoh provided Elliott with a much needed winner at the Cheltenham Festival

Gordon Elliott’s fantastic mare Woodhoh came to the Summerhill man's rescue again this year at the Cheltenham Festival. Elliott had plenty of of horses perform below par this week at the Festival but the reliable mare Woodhoh was an impressive winner of the Mares Hurdle on Thursday at odds of 5/6.

12 months ago, Woohoh won the last race of the festival, the Martin Pipe which at the time was a huge relief for Elliott as he had not had a winner all week. When the chips were down this week again, Woodhoh delivered.

Sent off the 5-6 market leader in the hands of Jack Kennedy after two impressive victories this term, she demonstrated her class to hold off last year’s runner-up Jade de Grugy who was delivered dangerously by Paul Townend. The six-year-old had one-length to spare over Willie Mullins’ 2/1 shot.

After the race, Elliott was relieved to have gotten a winner on the board.

“It’s hard to have winners here, the ball just wasn’t bouncing, but thankfully we’re on the board now. I’m delighted for myself and staff and my owners. The race worked out great and Jack gave her a peach. She idled a bit up the straight but she picked up again and she’s something else.” said Elliott

Elliott held a strong hand in the feature Stayers Hurdle with former winner Teahupoo and the up-and-coming Honesty Policy. However, neither were able to deliver a good enough performance as they finished in fifth and sixth place around seven lengths behind the shock winner Home By The Lee (33/1).

In the opening race, the Mares Novice Hurdle, Elliott’s Oldschool Outlaw under Mark Walsh ran a cracking race but just fell short as she finished second to another long odds winner White Noise (40/1) on what was a great day for the bookies.