Stayers Hurdle Cheltenham betting tips

Summary As the anticipation builds for the 2024 Grand National at Aintree Racecourse on Saturday, April 13, it's crucial to be well-prepared with the latest information, betting tips, and historical insights. This comprehensive betting guide provides you with essential details on the event, including the race's history, notable winners, current LeoVegas odds, and recommended bets.

Grand National Overview

Event Details

• Date: Saturday, April 13, 2024
• Venue: Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool
• Sponsor: Randox Health
• Prize Pool: £1 million
• Winner's Prize: £500,000

Table of Contents

• Stayers Hurdle Cheltenham Betting Tips
• Grand National Overview
• Event Details
• Update: Stayers Hurdle Results
• Stayers Hurdle Odds: The Latest in the Betting at LeoVegas
• What You Need to Know About the Stayers Hurdle Race
• Stayers Hurdle Race Prize: How Much is Up for Grabs?
• Stayers Hurdle Winners
• Stayers Hurdle Trials: Clues Ahead of the Big One at Cheltenham

Update: Stayers Hurdle Results

Here are the horses who have triumphed in this race since 2004, along with their trainers and jockeys on the day and some other important information relating to their win.

Stayers Hurdle Odds: The latest in the betting at LeoVegas

The 2024 edition of the Stayers Hurdle has all the makings of a highly competitive race.

Six different horses are priced at odds of 10/1 or lower and the ante-post favourite is currently a 3/1 chance, so unlike some other big Cheltenham races, there isn’t a red-hot favourite dominating the betting. Here are the latest odds at LeoVegas ahead of the race.

∙ Teahupoo 3/1

∙ Irish Point 10/3

∙ Crambo 11/2

∙ Noble Yeats 8/1

∙ Sir Gerhard 9/1

∙ Monkfish 10/1

∙ Flooring Porter 12/1

∙ Paisley Park 13/1

∙ Botox Has 17/1

∙ Home By The Lee 17/1

∙ Sire Du Berlais 17/1

∙ Dashel Drasher 20/1

∙ Good Time Jonny 22/1

∙ Ballyadam 24/1

∙ Champ 24/1

∙ Nemean Lion 24/1

What you need to know about the Stayers Hurdle Race

The Stayers Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt race. Run over 2m 7f 213 yards with 12 hurdles to be jumped. It’s contested on Cheltenham’s New Course, a left-handed track, and always takes place on the Thursday of the Festival, whereas before 1993 it was run on either the Tuesday or Wednesday. The race is open to horses of either sex as long as they’re aged four or older.

It dates back to 1912 when it was first run at Preston Park over the slightly longer distance of 3 miles.

Originally called the ‘Stayers Selling Hurdle’ it was a weight-for-age Selling Type of event which means it was a form of handicap race but where weight was allocated based on the horse’s age, sex and the distance of the race, rather than the horse’s pure ability based on past results.

Which is the more usual way of handicapping races.

The selling part comes from the fact that the winning horse was immediately sold for 50 Pounds at the end of the race.

It was dropped from the Cheltenham Festival twice: 1928-29 and 1939-1945 but re-introduced back in 1946 to replace the Spa Hurdle.

Between 2005 and 2015 when sponsored by a well-known UK bookmaker it was re-named the World Hurdle and these days it’s sponsored by a popular Irish betting company, though it’s known as the Stayers Hurdle again.

Stayers Hurdle Race Prize: How much is up for grabs?

In 2023 there was £325,000 up for grabs across the winner and placed horses with the owner (JP McManus) of the winner (Sire du Berlais) pocketing the £183,000 on offer for the victor. It was something of an unexpected windfall for McManus given Sire du Berlais went off at 33/1.

In 2024 the prize pot for the race will remain the same at £325,000 with the same £183,000 paid out to the owner of the eventual winner.

Stayers Hurdle Winners

There’s only one place to start here and it’s with Big Buck’s, who managed to win this race on four occasions, all in consecutive years, doing so in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. On all four occasions, the offspring of Sire of Cadoufal and Dam of Buck’s was trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by the great Ruby Walsh, who has since retired as a professional jockey.

Big Buck’s first went off as a 6/1 chance back in 2009, winning by 1 3/4 lengths but was priced up as an odds-on favourite for his next three wins with a Starting Price of 5/6, 10/11 and 5/6 respectively. His last race was after finishing fifth in the 2014 edition of the Stayers Hurdle at Cheltenham, and he was duly retired.

But Big Buck’s was by no means the only multiple winner in this race.

Inglis Drever managed to win it on three occasions (2005, 2007 and 2008) while several horses managed to win it twice.

They were: Silver Bay, Warwick, Sobrino, Galmoy, Baracouda and far more recently Flooring Porter, who won it in 2021 and 2022, before being denied by Sire Du Berlais’ win as a 33/1 chance last year.

Stayers Hurdle Trials- Clues ahead of the big one at Cheltenham

The following are races that are seen as trials, or warm-ups, for the bigger and more prestigious Stayers Hurdle race that’s part of the Cheltenham Festival. But they’re extremely important races in their own right.

The Long Walk Hurdle

It may be described as a ‘Trial’ here but it’s still a Grade 1 race, so there’s plenty at stake for it.

Run over 3 miles and 1 furlong, so a bit longer than the Stayers Hurdle, it has the same 12 hurdles as the latter and like the Stayers Hurdle, is open to horses of both sexes as long as they’re aged four, or older.

Taking place in early December each year, it’s staged at Ascot and the race takes its name from an avenue of trees in Windsor Great Park called…The Long Walk.

Proof of the fact that it’s a good indication of which horses may go on to star in the Stayers’ Hurdle is that since 1971, six winners of the Long Walk Hurdle have gone on to win the Stayers’ Hurdle in the same season: Derring Rose (1980–81), Baracouda (2001–02), My Way de Solzen (2005–06), Big Buck's (2009–10, 2010–11 and 2011–12), Thistlecrack (2015–16) and Paisley Park (2018-19).

Baracouda is the only horse to have won it on four occasions, doing so across a five-year period, while Big Buck’s and Reve de Sivola each won it three times and did so in consecutive years.

Paisley Park also won it three times but that was across a five-year period.

The Cleeve Hurdle

Curiously, it’s the exact distance as the Stayers’ Hurdle and also has 12 twelve hurdles to jump. But the biggest similarity of all is that it’s also run on the New Course at Cheltenham so there are some pretty obvious clues as to who might do well at the Stayers’ Hurdle based on the horses’ performances in this one.

It takes place in January every year since 1983 and though it had Grade 1 status between 1991 and 2004, it has since been downgraded to a Grade 2 event; at one stage it was known as the Bishops Cleeve Hurdle.

Horses need to be five or older for this one.

Paisley Park, who we mentioned as a perennial winner of the Long Walk Hurdle enjoyed plenty of success in this one, too. The Irish gelding won it on three occasions (2019, 2020 and 2022), a feat only matched by Lady Rebecca (1999, 2000 and 2001). The great Big Buck’s won it twice, in 2009 and 2012.

The Christmas Hurdle

Also a Grade 1 race, it takes place at Kempton Park on Boxing Day each year and has done so since 1969, after being abandoned as a race in both 1967 and 1968l it was also known as the Kempton Park Handicap Hurdle during the 1960s.

At 2 miles, it’s a bit shorter than either the Stayers’ Hurdle or the other two trial races on this list and has just eight hurdles, rather than twelve. It’s open to horses of either sex aged four years old and up.

Like the other trial races just mentioned, it’s a good indicator of who might go on to triumph in the Stayers’ Hurdle with six winners of the Christmas Hurdle in its current format going on to win at Cheltenham’s Stayers Hurdle.

They were: Lanzarote (1973-74), Dawn Run (1983–84), Kribensis (1989–90), Faugheen (2014–15), Epatante (2019–20) and Constitution Hill (2022–23).

Unlike some of the other featured races here, no horse has ever won it on three occasions. But the following all won it twice:

• Coral Diver – 1969, 1971
• Lanzarote – 1973, 1975
• Kribensis – 1988, 1989
• Intersky Falcon – 2002, 2003
• Harchibald – 2004, 2008
• Binocular – 2010, 2011
• Faugheen – 2014, 2015
• Epatante - 2019, 2021
• Constitution Hill – 2022, 2023

PLACE YOUR BETS

Check out our other Cheltenham betting tips & guides too:

• Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide

• Cheltenham Festival Betting Tips

• Gold Cup Betting Tips

• Champion Chase Betting Tips

• Champion Hurdle Betting Tips