Stayers Hurdle Tips 2023
The top race of Cheltenham Day 3 puts the spotlight on the Stayers’ Hurdle Tips. This Grade 1 championship race is just a fantastic long-distance hurdles challenge for the runners involved. For this year’s Stayers’ Hurdle tips, our betting experts will be looking at some of those who could rise to glory in this year’s renewal.
Stayers’ Hurdle Potential Runners & Favourites
There are generally some excellent Stayers’ Hurdle odds that are knocking around. It is a race that is so testing for the runners that it can often end up being wide open. Only one of the last five winners was a favourite, for example.
FLOORING PORTER is the market leader and therefore warrants enormous respect in Stayers’ Hurdle tips 2023. He will return to Cheltenham, looking to build on his success 12 months ago in this race.
Flooring Porter won that from fresh, and he’s following the same route to Cheltenham this season, not having had a 2023 run.
THYME HILL has the credentials to get himself involved for trainer Philip Hobbs. Thyme Hill did not go to last year’s Festival and has been lightly raced since his 2020 appearance in the Albert Bartlett. However, an encouraging second place at Ascot behind Champ in December last year could see him carry claims.
KLASSICAL DREAM is one of the top-rated runners among the early entries for the Stayers’ Hurdle betting. The presence of the 2019 Supreme Novices’ Festival winner can’t be ignored as the Willie Mullins-trained 8-year-old looks to kick on. There was a Grade 1 success at Leopardstown for Klassical Dream in September.
The final declarations will change the shape of the Stayers’ Hurdle odds a fair bit. A couple of 10 years old potential in the mix are CHAMP and PAISLEY PARK, both of those being famous Cheltenham Festival runners.
The likes of SONG FOR SOMEONE and 2020 winner LISNAGAR OSCAR could spring a surprise if everything went their way, but it would be some effort to get in front of those at the head of the betting.
Stayers’ Hurdle Confirmed Runners
| Horse | Silks | Trainer/Jockey | Odds |
| Flooring Porter |  | J: Danny Mullins T: Gavin Cromwell | 3/1 |
| Klassical Dream |  | J: Paul Townend T: Willie Mullins | 10/3 |
| Thyme Hill |  | J: Tom O’Brien T: Philip Hobbs | 10/3 |
| Champ |  | J: Jonjo O’Neill Jr T: Nicky Henderson | 9/2 |
| Paisley Park |  | J: Aidan Coleman T: Emma Lavelle | 7/1 |
| Royal Kahala |  | J: Kevin Sexton T: Peter Fahey | 8/1 |
| Home By The Lee |  | J: J J Slevin T: Joseph O’Brien | 40/1 |
| Lisnagar Oscar |  | J: Adam Wedge T: Rebecca Curtis | 40/1 |
| Song For Someone |  | J: Nico de Boinville T: Tom Symonds | 40/1 |
| Koshari |  | J: Jonathan Moore T: David Christie | 80/1 |
*Odds Correct as of 12pm 15/03/22*
How Often Does a Favourite Horse Win The Stayers’ Hurdle Race
The Stayers’ Hurdle odds tend to give punters a chance at landing a bigger-priced winner. At least, that is what the recent history and trends of these Grade 1 fixtures suggest. Four of the last five winners of the Cheltenham Festival Stayers’ Hurdle have been at least a 10/1 SP. The 2020 winner Lisnagar Oscar pulled out a massive gamble to win from 50/1.
Favourites have not had the greatest of strike rates over the last decade in this championship race. There has been a winning favourite in just three of the last ten renewals – the most recent of those was Paisley Park in 2019.
Stayers Hurdle Favourites vs Winners in The Past 10 Years
| Year | Favourite Horse* | Winning Horse |
| 2021 | Paisley Park (3rd) | Flooring Porter (12/1) |
| 2020 | Paisley Park (7th) | Lisnagar Oscar (50/1) |
| 2019 | Paisley Park | Paisley Park (11/8) |
| 2018 | Sam Spinner (5th) | Penhill (12/1) |
| 2017 | Unowhatimeanharry (3rd) | Nichols Canyon (10/1) |
| 2016 | Thistlecrack | Thistlecrack (Evens) |
| 2015 | Saphir Du Rheu (2nd) | Cole Harden (14/1) |
| 2014 | Annie Power (2nd) | More Of That (15/2) |
| 2013 | Oscar Whisky (PU) | Solwhit (17/2) |
| 2012 | Big Bucks | Big Bucks (5/6) |
*(-) = Finishing Position, UR = Unseated Rider, F = Faller, RO = Ran Out, PU = Pulled Up
Stayers’ Hurdle History & Present Time
The Stayers’ Hurdle is a Grade 1 fixture at the Cheltenham Festival, and it is roughly a 3m trip (albeit for a few yards). Fillies and mares taking part in the race can claim a 7lb allowance.
There are 12 hurdles in the race hosted on the Cheltenham Festival Day 3 after moving to that slot in 1993. The Stayers’ Hurdle, also known for a while as the World Hurdle, is the top long-distance Hurdle around and has a history stretching back to 1912.
The race did have some time in and out of the Festival in the past, including a spattering of abandoned renewals because of weather too, but it has been a permanent fixture since 1972, aside from when the entire 2001 Festival was wiped out.
Stayers’ Hurdle Jockey & Trainer Records
No horse has been able to match the four-time success that Big Buck’s achieved in the Stayers’ Hurdle. Those four victories were secured in consecutive years from 2009 through 2012 in a remarkable run of dominance.
Jockey Ruby Walsh was in the saddle for all four of those wins, and he added a 5th Stayers’ Hurdle success on Nichols Canyon in 2017. No current active jockey has managed to win more than one Stayers’ Hurdle.
So it could be a trainer preference that punters lean towards for Stayers’ Hurdle tips. Paul Nicholls has won 4 of the last 20 renewals, with only Willie Mullins and Jonjo O’Neill winning more than one in that sequence (2). Nicky Henderson has failed to win the Stayers’ Hurdle from 16 entries in the last two decades.