Mighty Potter leads Elliott one-two in Future Champions Novice Hurdle

Gary Carson
December 27, 2021 2:38 pm

First winner for Jack Kennedy since return from injury.

Mighty Potter led home a Gordon Elliott one-two in the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown.

The four-year-old was third in the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle, also a Grade One event, at Fairyhouse last month and built on that performance to strike at 5-2.

A length and a half behind was stablemate Three Stripe Life, who was a 4-1 chance having won his hurdling debut in early November.

The performance of the winner was made even sweeter for Elliott as it was stable jockey Jack Kennedy’s first success since breaking his arm at Navan early last month.

“That was great and it’s great for Jack as it’s his first winner since coming back. It was a perfect result,” he said.

“I was happy the whole way until the second-last but he just got wiped out there, both horses did but they both showed guts and came back. They are two nice horses for the future.

“The winner is a big chaser, if you look at him, and he’s not going to be a horse until next year.”

Of possible Cheltenham targets Elliott said: “We’ll get today out of the way and then we’ll see what happens.”

Of Three Stripe Life Elliott also added: “I was very happy with him. It was only his second run over hurdles and he’s a very good horse.

“He’s raw, but Davy (Russell) was happy with him, he was a bit annoyed at himself as he got stopped at the second-last. He said there is a lot of improvement in him as well.”