Timeform highlight the key trends to keep in mind for the Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Stayers' Hurdle
15:30 Cheltenham, Thursday
Paisley Park and Champ, the pair of ten-year-olds who fought out the finish to the Cleeve Hurdle, will be looking to break a significant age stat in the Stayers' Hurdle. Eight of the last ten winners of the Stayers' Hurdle have been aged between six and eight, while no horse aged ten or older has won since Crimson Embers triumphed in 1986.
Limestone Lad, Baracouda and Big Buck's were all beaten when trying to win the Stayers' Hurdle aged ten or older.
Paisley Park, the 2019 winner, may now be older than your typical winner, but he meets all the other key criteria, ticking more boxes than his rivals other than Royal Kahala, who has also met six of the seven trends.
Royal Kahala, the Galmoy Hurdle winner, has had a good preparation but is still searching for a first win in a Grade 1 hurdle.
Klassical Dream meets five of the criteria, though he needs to bounce back from a disappointing display in the Galmoy when only fourth behind Royal Kahala.
Last year's Stayers' Hurdle winner Flooring Porter fares badly on the trends, but it's worth pointing out that he looked the most likely winner when falling on his return and then ran to a very high level when behind only Klassical Dream in a strong edition of the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown.
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