Cheltenham second place finish for locally-owned horse

Locally-owned Flooring Porter made a brave bid for a third Stayers Hurdle at Cheltenham this afternoon.

The 2021 and 2022 winner produced a performance to roll back the years and finish second to hot favourite Teahupoo in the feature event on the card today.

Owned by the Flooring Porter Syndicate, with members from South Roscommon and East Galway, Flooring Porter, who set off at odds of 9/1 took up the lead heading into the home straight first time around, before upping the pace in the final mile.

However, coming up to the last, the nine-year-old was headed by the Gordon Elliott-trained Teahupoo, who landed a big gamble at 5/4 favourite.

Flooring Porter, ridden by Keith Donoghue and trained by Gavin Cromwell, rallied after the last, but the winner pushed on to win by three and three quarter lengths.

Speaking after the race to ITV, one of the syndicate members described Flooring Porter as 'a great horse' and said they were delighted with the performance and that he had returned safe and sound.