Gordon Elliott lands the opening race of the 2017 Festival.
25/1 shot Labaik caused a big shock when winning the Supreme Novices' Hurdle by two lengths after surging clear of pre-race joint-favourite Melon to kick off the Cheltenham Festival in 2017 style for the Irish.
The well-backed Melon held off the challenge of all his other rivals but could not match the turn of foot shown by the 6yo up the famous Cheltenham hill. The winner had refused to race on his last three starts but showed no sign of any pre-race antics to land the Grade One under teenager Jack Kennedy.
The other joint-favoruite Ballyandy, endured a nightmare trip throughout and was held up off the pace of a steady gallop and could not make up the ground going into the final straight.
17 year-old winning jockey, Jack Kennedy had this to say about his maiden Cheltenham win when speaking to ITV Racing:
“Words can’t describe what it’s like,”
“I was probably a little bit far back but they went a good gallop.
“It couldn’t have gone any better."
River Wylde finished third behind the two front runners but was another eight lengths back.
