Stayers Hurdle Odds 2023
The Stayers’ Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race that is run over a distance of three miles. It is the feature race on Day Three of the Cheltenham Festival and the most prestigious staying hurdle race of the season in the UK and Ireland.
The most successful horse in the history of the race is Big Buck’s, who won the Stayers’ Hurdle a record four times between 2009 and 2012, with jockey Ruby Walsh on board on all four occasions. The trainer of Big Bucks, Paul Nicholls, is the leading trainer in the history of the Stayers Hurdle.
Trained in Ireland by Gavin Cromwell, Flooring Porter is the two-time Stayers Hurdle winner, having won the race in 2021 and 2022, and he has an excellent chance to make it three in a row on Thursday.
Latest Stayers Hurdle odds *
*Best prices at the time of writing
Blazing Khal 11/4
Teahupoo 7/2
Flooring Porter 5/1
Home By the Lee 6/1
Klassical Dream 8/1
Gold Tweet 10/1
Paisley Park 14/1
Ashdale Bob 18/1
Henri Le Farceur 22/1
Dashel Drasher 25/1
Sire Du Berlais 66/1
Stayers Hurdle Odds and Entries 2023
This year’s Stayers Hurdle looks like a wide-open contest with an argument to be made for many of the runners. The Gordon Elliott-trained Teahupoo appears to have raised his game this season, securing victories against stiff competition in the Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse, where he held off Klassical Dream, and in a Grade 2 race at Gowran over the same distance, despite carrying a penalty.
Blazing Khal will represent Charles Byrne, and it’s unknown if the horse has reached its ceiling yet. He won all three of his starts last season, including a couple of Grade 2s at this track, and picked up where he left off after a long absence when winning the Boyne Hurdle at Navan last month.
While Flooring Porter has faced some setbacks in his preparations, the horse should still be regarded as a strong contender as it vies for a third consecutive win in the Stayers’ Hurdle. In addition, the French runner Gold Tweet, who clinched the Cleeve Hurdle over the course and distance, cannot be underestimated and may provide stiff competition.
Finally, it would be a popular winner if Paisley Park and Aidan Coleman could roll back the years and win the race again, having done so in 2019.
Betting on the Stayers’ Hurdle
The Stayers Hurdle is one of the top four ante-post betting races at the Cheltenham Festival meeting. Flooring Porter (2021, 2022) became the first dual winner of the race since Big Buck’s won it for a fourth consecutive season in 2012. He is likely to face a strong challenge from his compatriots Blazing Khai and Teahupoo as he bids to join three-time winner Inglis Drever (2005, 2007 and 2008).
After four years when Big Buck’s dominated the Stayers Hurdle betting, favourites have had a lean time with only two victories in ten years; Thistlecrack (2016) and Paisley Park (2019). Punters having a bet on the Stayers Hurdle were rocked in 2020 when 50-1 outsider Lisnagar Oscar came home in front for Rebecca Curtis and Adam Wedge.
The Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot in December has been the most significant trial for this race. My Way De Solzen, Big Buck’s, Thistlecrack and Paisley Park all won the Long Walk before winning the Stayers’ Hurdle. That race was won by French raider Gold Tweet this season who will be supplemented as he bids to become the first French-trained winner since Baracouda (2002, 2003).
Stayers Hurdle News
The Stayers Hurdle is all about stamina as it’s a gruelling race around the undulations of Prestbury Park. It’s a race that lends itself to younger horses, and no horse aged nine or older has won the Stayers Hurdle since 2013.
Typically there is a large field with double-digit runners as the norm. Flooring Porter has won the last two renewals with enterprising runs from the front, but before that, the previous four winners of the race had all been delivered late up the infamous Cheltenham hill.
The main talking point heading into this year’s race is whether Blazing Khal would line up in the race, but trainer Charles Byrne gave the go-ahead last week.