Saint D'Oroux booked his Cheltenham ticket when justifying strong even money favouritism at Gowran today, winning the opening Sea Moon & Shantou At Burgage Maiden Hurdle for trainer Gordon Elliott and jockey Davy Russell.

The French bred son of Saints Des Saints carried form figures of '2445', including a fourth placing in a Grade 3 in December, into today's race and today travelled strongly throughout and in the end effortless beat Deealli by 24 lengths.

Trainer Elliott later commented “that was grand. The horse had a bit of experience and I suppose it stood to him.

“He's not a bad horse and he'll win plenty of races. He's getting stronger the whole time and he didn't mind that ground.

“He'll probably go for the Fred Winter now all being well.”

Quotes from Gary Carson