Heroes races into Festival picture

No More Heroes raced into the Cheltenham Festival picture as he saw off Shaneshill to land the Navan Novice Hurdle for Gordon Elliott and Barry Geraghty yesterday.

Having filled the runner-up spot in last season’s Champion Bumper at Cheltenham before going one better in the equivalent event at Punchestown, Shaneshill was unsurprisingly all the rage for the Grade Two feature following a comfortable victory on his hurdling debut at Fairyhouse last month.

The Willie Mullins-trained 4-9 favourite hurdled and travelled fluently in the hands of Ruby Walsh, tracking the pacesetting Shantou Flyer and No More Heroes.