Penhill claims Stayers’ Hurdle

Jockey Paul Townend has praised Penhill after springing a surprise to win the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

The seven-year-old went off at 12/1 and had to dig deep up the hill as he ultimately proved too strong for Supasundae.

Penhill has previous at Cheltenham, having won the Albert Bartlett in 2017, but many didn’t fancy him after 323 days away from racing.

However, he showed no signs of rustiness and Townend was quick to heap praise on the charge at the winning post.

Townend said: “He’s got a massive engine. It was some training performance. I got there too soon and luckily he kept going.

“He jumped rusty enough early on but when I needed him at the last, he produced.”