Billed as the feature race on the third day (Thursday) of the Cheltenham Festival, the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (formerly the World Hurdle) is run over a distance of 3m with 12 hurdles to jump. In recent years, the contest has been dominated by previous winners of the race with the French-trained, Baracouda, landing the prize twice, the gutsy Inglis Drever winning three times, while the Paul Nicholls-trained Big Buck’s took the honours four times on the bounce between 2009-2012.
The present format of the contest was first run in 1972, and after being known as the Ladbrokes World Hurdle from 2005 the race returned to it’s original name - the Stayers’ Hurdle – in 2017, with Paddy Power now the race sponsors.
In recent years, the contest has been dominated by previous winners of the race with the French-trained, Baracouda, landing the prize twice, the gutsy Inglis Drever winning three times, while the Paul Nicholls-trained Big Buck’s took the honours four times on the bounce between 2009-2012.
In 2018 we saw the Willie Mullins yard win the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle for the second year in a row – this time with the 7 year-old Penhill, while it was Paisley Park that won the race in 2019 and gave trainer Emma Lavelle her first winner in the race – but could only manage seventh in the race in 2020 and third in 2021 - he should be back for more this year though, having returned to form by winning the 2022 Cleeve Hurdle here at Cheltenham in January.
12 months ago, in 2022, we saw the Gavin Cromwell-trained Flooring Porter making all to win the race for jockey Danny Mullins by 3 ¼ lengths.
Here at TQ we look back at recent Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle winners and gives you the key stats to take into the 2022 renewal – this year run on 18th March 2020.
Recent Stayers’ Hurdle Winners
2021 - FLOORING PORTER (12/1)
2020 – LISNAGAR OSCAR (50/1)
2019 – PAISLEY PARK (11/8 fav)
2018 – PENHILL (12/1)
2017 – NICHOLS CANYON (10/1)
2016 – THISTLECRACK (Evs)
2015 – COLE HARDEN (14/1)
2014 – MORE OF THAT (15/2)
2013 – SOLWHIT (17/2)
2012 – BIG BUCK’S (5/6 fav)
2011 - BIG BUCK’S (10/11 fav)
2010 - BIG BUCK’S (5/6 fav)
2009 - BIG BUCK’S (6/1)
2008 – INGLIS DREVER (11/8 fav)
2007 – INGLIS DREVER (5/1)
2006 – MY WAY de SOLZEN (8/1)
2005 – INGLIS DREVER (5/1)
2004 – IRIS’S GIFT (9/2)
2003 – BARACOUDA (9/4 fav)
Stayers’ Hurdle Betting Trends
16/19 – Had raced within the last 10 weeks
16/19 – Finished 1st or 2nd last time out
16/19 – Had won over at least 3m (hurdles) before
16/19 – Aged 8 or younger
14/19 – Returned 8/1 or shorter in the betting
14/19 – Winning distance – 3 1/2 lengths or less
14/19 – Placed favourites
13/19 – Came from the top 3 in the betting
13/19 – Had raced that calendar year
12/19 – Went onto run at the Aintree Grand National Meeting later that season
12/19 – Had won over hurdles at Cheltenham before
12/19 – Won their latest race
11/19 – Contested either the Cleeve Hurdle (8) or the Long Walk Hurdle (3) last time out
10/19 – Rated 163 or higher
7/19 – French-bred
7/19 – Went onto win at Aintree later that season
7/19 – Winning favourite
4/19 – Trained by Paul Nicholls
4/19 – Irish-trained winners
The average winning SP in the last 19 runnings is 8/1
Stayers’ Hurdle Stats:
Every winner since 1972 has been aged 6 or older
Since 1972 there have been 7 previous winners of the race
Horses that ran at the previous season’s Cheltenham Festival are 22 from 27
Horses that were placed fourth or better last time out have won 33 of the last 34 renewals
The top five in the betting have finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd in 7 of the last 18 renewals
Just 4 Irish-trained winners since 1996 – Solwhit (2013), Nichols Canyon (2017), Penhill (2018), Flooring Porter (2021)
All of the last 34 winners were aged 9 or younger
Stayers Hurdle – UK v Irish
18/24 – British-trained winners
2/24 – French-trained winners
4/24 – Irish-trained winners
Trainer Paul Nicholls (UK) has trained 4 winners of the race
Willie Mullins (Ire) has trained just 2 winners of the race (2017, Nichols Canyon, 2018 Penhill)
Nicky Henderson (UK) has trained just 1 winner of the race (2000, Bacchanal)
Paul Nicholls (UK) has trained 4 of the last 12 winners
Jonjo O’Neill (UK has trained 2 of the last 17 winners
