Adam Houghton reveals another key stat to keep in mind for the Cheltenham Festival.
KEY STAT
0/42 – the record of horses aged 10 or above in the Stayers' Hurdle since 2000
In the latest edition of this column, we touched on the expansion of the Cheltenham Festival to four days in 2005. As well as creating a need for more races to fill the programme, this move also provided an opening for one of the existing races at the meeting to step up and become the feature event on the third and penultimate day of the newly-expanded Festival.
The Stayers’ Hurdle – or the World Hurdle as it became known in 2005 – was chosen to fulfil this task, a decision which wasn’t met with universal approval in the early years. For a while it had the reputation of being the ‘Cinderella’ event out of the four major championship races run at the Festival, suddenly plucked from relative obscurity to a position of great significance.
There were certainly plenty of National Hunt fans who didn’t consider the Stayers’ Hurdle to be worthy of the reverence that came with its new position, though it’s hard to see why they should feel that way following two truly memorable editions of the race in 2003 and 2004.
In 2003, perhaps the best running in the long history of the Stayers’ Hurdle, Baracouda beat Iris's Gift and Limestone Lad by three quarters of a length and five lengths in a contest described in Chasers & Hurdlers as “one of the most memorable horse-races of recent times”.
That was Baracouda’s second successive victory in the Stayers’ Hurdle and he was sent off the 11/8-on favourite to become the first three-time winner of the race in 2004, but this time it was Iris’s Gift who got the better of the argument, beating Baracouda by a length and a half as the first two pulled 13 lengths clear of the rest in another splendid renewal.
For context, Baracouda and Iris's Gift were the highest-rated hurdlers of their respective years, their performances at Cheltenham ranking better than those achieved by the corresponding winners of the Champion Hurdle, Rooster Booster and Hardy Eustace.
Iris's Gift and Limestone Lad were both missing from the line-up for the first edition of the World Hurdle in 2005 – in the race’s new slot as the feature event on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival – but the 10-year-old Baracouda was back for more and he started a hot favourite to regain his crown.
Baracouda unable to buck the trend
Baracouda looked like doing just that as well when the field turned into the straight but, when shaken up, he didn't quicken as expected and couldn't hold off the six-year-old Inglis Drever who, on his first try at three miles, responded well to pressure to win by three lengths.
That performance signified that Baracouda’s best days were behind him and he fared worse still when having his swansong as an 11-year-old in the 2006 edition of the World Hurdle, finishing fifth behind another six-year-old winner, My Way de Solzen, in the absence of the injured Inglis Drever.
Incidentally, Inglis Drever returned as good as ever to regain his crown in 2007 before winning again at the age of nine in 2008 to succeed where Baracouda failed in becoming the first three-time winner of the race. Sadly, Inglis Drever was denied the opportunity to bid for a fourth success the following year due to a career-ending injury suffered at Newbury later in 2008.
If it’s any consolation to his connections, Inglis Drever would have had history against him if lining up in the 2009 edition of the World Hurdle. After all, the fact remains that no horse aged 10 or above has won the race since Crimson Embers in 1986, and Inglis Drever would have been attempting to do so with another outstanding staying hurdler, Big Buck’s, lying in wait.
Inglis Drever may have been spared that challenge, but 42 horses aged 10 or above have run in this race since the turn of the century and they have all been beaten.
Admittedly, many of those to have tried have been relatively unfancied in the betting – 19/42 returned an SP of 50/1 or greater – but there have been several others who appeared to have a legitimate chance on paper beforehand.
The 11-year-old Limestone Lad was sent off at 9/4 when third behind Baracouda and Iris’s Gift in 2003, while the winner of that epic renewal was so good in his prime that his supporters stuck with him even in the veteran stage of his career. Sent off the 6/5 favourite when he filled the runner-up spot at the age of 10 in 2005, Baracouda was still sent off the 9/2 second favourite when he finished fifth at the age of 11 in 2006.
Three more horses aged 10 or above have been beaten at single-figure odds in the interim, including a certain Big Buck’s, who was sent off the 7/2 second favourite when attempting to win his fifth World Hurdle crown at the age of 11 in 2014.
Big Buck’s dominated the World Hurdle between 2009 and 2012, eclipsing the record of three-time winner Inglis Drever in the process. However, a serious injury ruled him out of the race in 2013 and he was evidently no longer the force of old when attempting to regain his crown the following year, ultimately finishing fifth behind More of That.
The 10-year-old Unowhatimeanharry finished only tenth when sent off the 8/1 fourth favourite in 2018, while former Champion Hurdle winner Faugheen was an 11-year-old when sent off the 4/1 second favourite and finishing third behind Paisley Park in 2019.
Third remains the best finishing position that any horse aged 10 or above has achieved in this race since Baracouda filled the runner-up spot in 2005.
The 10-year-old Powerstation was also third behind Big Buck’s when sent off at 33/1 in 2010, while former Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth returned the same odds and achieved the same finishing position behind Thistlecrack in 2016, albeit he was beaten fully 29 lengths on his final appearance before retiring at the age of 11.
Thistlecrack was an eight-year-old when he won the last edition of the World Hurdle in 2016 – the race became the Stayers’ Hurdle again in 2017 – but even he is something of an exception to the rule given that every other winner since 2014 has been aged six or seven.
It’s therefore hard to escape the conclusion that younger legs are better equipped to cope with the test that the Stayers’ Hurdle provides nowadays.
Champ and Paisley Park bidding for history
So, what does all this mean for the 2022 renewal?
Supporters of the defending champion Flooring Porter can certainly sit comfortably. He ran out a dominant winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle at last year’s Cheltenham Festival, making all to land the spoils by over three lengths.
It was such an impressive performance that Flooring Porter looked to have this division at his mercy in the short term and, though failing to add to his tally in three subsequent starts, he must still be considered a worthy favourite as he attempts to join Baracouda, Inglis Drever and Big Buck’s as a multiple winner of the race this century.
Still only a seven-year-old, Flooring Porter proved at least as good as ever when filling the runner-up spot behind Klassical Dream in the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown last time, giving the winner a start and sticking to his task well under the circumstances to be beaten only two lengths.
When you consider that Klassical Dream has been turned over at short odds since, then Flooring Porter arguably stands out as the pick of the Irish-trained contenders in a race which clearly brought out the best in him last year.
Crucially, it’s worth pointing out that two of Flooring Porter’s main dangers according to the ante-post betting are aged 10, namely Champ and the horse who beat him in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham last time, Paisley Park. Could either of them follow in the footsteps of Crimson Embers fully 36 years ago?
Already a Cheltenham Festival winner in the 2020 RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase, Champ emerged as a big player in this division when making a winning reappearance in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot in December.
That was his first start over the smaller obstacles since winning the 2019 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle and he looked very much at home, asserting late on to beat Thyme Hill by a length and three quarters, with another three and a half lengths back to Paisley Park in third.
Champ was then a warm order to follow up in the Cleeve and cement his position at the head of the ante-post betting for the Stayers’ Hurdle, but this time he came up short against a rejuvenated Paisley Park, who looked right back to his very best in winning by three and a quarter lengths.
Even that doesn’t tell the whole story as Paisley Park planted himself at the start and found himself detached when eventually consenting to move into his faster paces. He was lucky that the race developed as it did, with holding ground and a sound gallop bringing his stamina fully into play.
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Connections of both horses are entitled to be optimistic with a view to the Stayers’ Hurdle. Despite their age, Champ and Paisley Park both have recent form in the book which is only a little shy of what Klassical Dream and Flooring Porter have achieved, while better ground at the Festival would also be in Champ’s favour given his style of racing.
As for Paisley Park, his connections can take plenty of encouragement from the exploits of Crimson Embers, whose two victories in the Stayers’ Hurdle came four years apart, latterly as an 11-year-old in 1986.
Paisley Park himself will be making his fourth consecutive appearance in the Stayers’ Hurdle as, after winning at the first attempt in 2019, he also finished seventh in 2020 and third in 2021.
Notable horses aged 10 or above to have run in the Stayers’ Hurdle since 2000
- 2000 – Mister Morose (10, fifth at 11/1)
- 2002 – Spendid (10, sixth at 20/1)
- 2002 – Deano's Beeno (10, eighth at 33/1)
- 2002 – Boss Doyle (10, eleventh at 33/1)
- 2003 – Limestone Lad (11, third at 9/4)
- 2003 – Deano's Beeno (11, sixth at 25/1)
- 2005 – Baracouda (10, second at 6/5)
- 2006 – Baracouda (11, fifth at 9/2)
- 2006 – Westender (10, eleventh at 25/1)
- 2008 – Hardy Eustace (11, twelfth at 16/1)
- 2010 – Powerstation (10, third at 33/1)
- 2010 – War of Attrition (11, twelfth at 20/1)
- 2014 – Big Buck's (11, fifth at 7/2)
- 2014 – Celestial Halo (10, tenth at 20/1)
- 2015 – Jetson (10, ninth at 14/1)
- 2015 – Reve de Sivola (10, eleventh at 20/1)
- 2016 – Bobs Worth (11, third at 33/1)
- 2017 – Clondaw Warrior (10, sixth at 33/1)
- 2017 – Zarkandar (10, seventh at 25/1)
- 2018 – Unowhatimeanharry (10, tenth at 8/1)
- 2018 – The New One (10, twelfth at 18/1)
- 2019 – Faugheen (11, third at 4/1)
- 2021 – The Storyteller (10, fifth at 11/1)
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