The Stayers’ Hurdle (sponsored by Paddy Power) is a Grade 1 race over 3 miles on Thursday of the Festival. It’s the championship for the staying hurdlers, and repeat winners are a feature — Flooring Porter, Baracouda and others have won this more than once.
Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Bob Olinger | Henry de Bromhead | R Blackmore | 10 | 8/1 |
| 2024 | Teahupoo | Gordon Elliott | J W Kennedy | 7 | 5/4 |
| 2023 | Sire Du Berlais | Gordon Elliott | M P Walsh | 11 | 33/1 |
| 2022 | Flooring Porter | Gavin Cromwell | D E Mullins | 7 | 4/1 |
| 2021 | Flooring Porter | Gavin Cromwell | D E Mullins | 6 | 12/1 |
| 2020 | Lisnagar Oscar | Rebecca Curtis | Adam Wedge | 7 | 50/1 |
| 2019 | Paisley Park | Emma Lavelle | A Coleman | 7 | 19/8 |
| 2018 | Penhill | W P Mullins | P Townend | 7 | 12/1 |
| 2017 | Nichols Canyon | W P Mullins | R Walsh | 7 | 10/1 |
Key Trends
Age profile: Seven-year-olds have won 7 of the 11 renewals in our dataset, a truly dominant record. Beyond that, winners have come at 6, 8, 10 and even 11. But if you’re looking for one number, 7 is it.
Favourite record: The favourite has won only 3 of 12 times (25%). They’ve placed in 9 of those 12, so the favourite is usually involved without necessarily winning. The average favourite SP of around 11/4 suggests the market often identifies the right ones but the race is far from a formality.
Trainers: Gordon Elliott and Mullins lead with 2 wins apiece, though from very different runner totals — Elliott has had 9 runners, Mullins 22. Gavin Cromwell’s 2 wins (both Flooring Porter) came from only 4 runners, the best strike rate. Emma Lavelle’s 1 from 6 was Paisley Park.
Going: Soft ground has produced 5 of the 11 winners, which makes sense for a 3-mile hurdle that tests stamina. Good to Soft accounts for 3 and Good for 3.
What the Data Says
A word of caution: our dataset only covers 11 editions, with a gap between 2004 and 2017 where the data doesn’t match up to the race’s history (it was formerly the World Hurdle, then the Ladbrokes World Hurdle). So trends here are based on a smaller sample than the other championship races.
With that caveat, two things stand out. The seven-year-old trend is striking enough to take seriously even from 11 renewals — 7 of 11 winners is 64%. And Lisnagar Oscar’s 50/1 win in 2020 shows this race can produce enormous shocks. Sire Du Berlais at 33/1 in 2023 reinforces that point. The average winning SP of nearly 14/1 is much higher than the other Grade 1 hurdles, making this the most volatile of the championship races.
Flooring Porter’s back-to-back wins (2021-22) and Baracouda’s in the earlier sample show that front-running stayers can dominate this race for multiple seasons. If a horse proves they handle the unique Cheltenham 3-mile test, they tend to keep handling it.
Elliott’s yard has produced 2 of the last 3 winners (Teahupoo and Sire Du Berlais) and looks to have replaced Mullins as the go-to trainer here. Worth monitoring.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.