The Cheltenham Festival has four races which are collectively known as the ‘championship races‘, each headlining one day of the prestigious racing event.
The Cheltenham Festival: Stayers’ Hurdle 2025
Thursday‘s feature race is the Stayers‘ Hurdle, which provides an opportunity for the best three-mile hurdlers to fight it out for the crown and establish themselves as the best in the business. By no means an easy race to win, it takes a certain type of horse to come out on top.
Stayers’ Hurdle: Race Origins
Whilst the race‘s history actually dates back to 1913, it wasn‘t until 1972 that it became part of the Cheltenham Festival and its stature continues to grow. It was added to the Thursday slate in 1993 and has been run on that day ever since.
Initially called the Lloyds Bank Stayers‘ Hurdle when introduced to the Festival, it replaced the Spa Hurdle and has undergone many changes in name over the years. It was known as the World Hurdle between 2005 and 2016, until The Sun‘s sponsorship led to a return to the old name.
Stayers’ Hurdle History Makers
Big Buck‘s dominated the race between 2009 and 2012, winning all four renewals during that time and the feat is yet to be matched. During Paul Nicholls‘ golden age, Big Buck‘s made the switch to hurdles after a final fence fall in the Hennessey Cognac Gold Cup and the rest is history. He completed an 18-race winning streak during this time, which probably makes him the best staying hurdler of all time.
A very popular horse in the 2000s, Inglis Drever made a habit of looking beaten before staying on up the Cheltenham hill in unstoppable fashion. The three-time winner made history as the first (and to date, only) multiple winner of the race to have been ridden by different jockeys.
Big Buck‘s‘ four wins makes Nicholls the record holder for most successes (since 1972) and his jockey Ruby Walsh is the leading rider with five, having also won it on Nichols Canyon in 2017. Leading owner status is shared by three, The Stewart Family, Andrea & Graham Wylie and JP McManus, who all have four victories apiece.
Stayers’ Hurdle: Recent Renewals
It‘s been hard to find a dominant horse to make the staying hurdle division their own since the great Big Buck‘s but 2024‘s winner Teahupoo has the potential to win another couple of Stayers‘ Hurdles.
That being said, stablemate Irish Point would surely give him a run for his money if returning to the division. 2016 winner Thistlecrack is probably the classiest winner in recent years and he went on to claim the King George VI Chase at Kempton nine months later, while the last horse to win more than once was Flooring Porter, who came out on top in 2021 and 2022.
By Adrian Mills
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