The joint-headline act on St Patrick’s Day in Cheltenham is the Stayers Hurdle, though historically this was the main race of the meeting and one of four Championship races.
That’s now five, with the Ryanair Chase being added to that list, and both share the top billing on the third day, with the Stayers coming first in the schedule, as the fourth race on the day.
A three-mile hurdle test, the Gold Cup equivalent for hurdlers, a gruelling test that requires plenty of staying power, and often, sheer guts and determination to get over the line.
If we’re being honest, there aren’t too many winners of this race that would go down as greats, as we see elsewhere with races like the Champion Hurdle, but there definitely have been some greats of the game on occasions.
Unlike the previous two Championship races of the Festival that we’ve covered on the site, The Stayers’ Hurdle doesn’t take place on the Cheltenham Old Course. Instead it begins to get punters ready for that most famous of races, the Gold Cup, by moving the action over to the New Course where the big one will happen on the last day of the meeting.
A National Hunt Grade 1 race, the Stayers’ Hurdle deserves the same degree of respect as the other ‘Big Four’ races that take centre stage at the Cheltenham Festival. Here’s what you need to know about its past, as well as some interesting trivia from over the years.
Race Facts
The first of the five major races of the Festival to be run on the New Course, this left-handed ride is for horses of four-years-of-age and older. It’s a three mile race, or 4,828 metres, so the weight allowance is ten stone and nine pound for four-year-olds and eleven stone ten pounds for five-year-olds and upwards. There’s an allowance of seven pounds for both mares and fillies. Much like with the Queen Mother Champion Chase, there are twelve hurdles that must be cleared.
When it was first run in 1912 the prize money was £100. This was doubled for the following year and the runner-up received £10. The pot has increased year-on-year so that by 2026 the overall prize money was over £325,000.
Records For Most Wins
| Record Type | No of Wins | Record Holder |
|---|---|---|
| Horse | 4 | Big Bucks |
| Trainer | 4 | Paul Nicholls |
| Jockey | 5 | Ruby Walsh |
Race Trends: Winners Since 2000
Previous Winners
| Year | Winner | Age | Odds | Prize | Jockey / Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Home By The Lee | 11 | 33/1 | £182,877.50 |
J: J J Slevin
T: Joseph Patrick
|
| 2025 | Bob Olinger | 10 | 8/1 | £182,877.50 |
J: Rachael Blackmore
T: H De Bromhead
|
| 2024 | Teahupoo | 7 | 5/4 F | £182,878 |
J: J W Kennedy
T: G Elliott
|
| 2023 | Sire Du Berlais | 11 | 33/1 | £197,696 |
J: M P Walsh
T: G Elliott
|
| 2022 | Flooring Porter | 7 | 4/1 | £182,878 |
J: D E Mullins
T: G P Cromwell
|
| 2021 | Flooring Porter | 6 | 12/1 | £135,048 |
J: D E Mullins
T: G P Cromwell
|
| 2020 | Lisnagar Oscar | 7 | 50/1 | £182,877.50 |
J: Adam Wedge
T: Rebecca Curtis
|
| 2019 | Paisley Park | 7 | 11/8 F | £182,877.50 |
J: Aidan Coleman
T: Emma Lavelle
|
| 2018 | Penhill | 7 | 12/1 | £192,707.42 |
J: P Townend
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2017 | Nichols Canyon | 7 | 10/1 | £170,850 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2016 | Thistlecrack | 8 | 1/1 F | £170,850 |
J: Tom Scudamore
T: C Tizzard
|
| 2015 | Cole Harden | 6 | 14/1 | £170,850 |
J: G Sheehan
T: W Greatrex
|
| 2014 | More Of That | 6 | 15/2 | £156,612.50 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: Jonjo O'Neill
|
| 2013 | Solwhit | 9 | 17/2 | £156,612.50 |
J: Ms N Carberry
T: C Byrnes
|
| 2012 | Big Buck's | 9 | 5/6 F | £148,070 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: P F Nicholls
|
| 2011 | Big Buck's | 8 | 10/11 F | £148,226 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: P F Nicholls
|
| 2010 | Big Buck's | 7 | 5/6 F | £148,226 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: P F Nicholls
|
| 2009 | Big Buck's | 6 | 6/1 | £148,226 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: P F Nicholls
|
| 2008 | Inglis Drever | 9 | 11/8 F | £142,550 |
J: Denis O'Regan
T: Howard Johnson
|
| 2007 | Inglis Drever | 8 | 5/1 | £149,027.48 |
J: Paddy Brennan
T: Howard Johnson
|
| 2006 | My Way De Solzen | 6 | 8/1 | £131,146 |
J: Robert Thornton
T: A King
|
| 2005 | Inglis Drever | 6 | 5/1 | £116,000 |
J: Graham Lee
T: Howard Johnson
|
| 2004 | Iris's Gift | 7 | 9/2 | £81,200 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: Jonjo O'Neill
|
| 2003 | Baracouda | 8 | 9/4 J | £85,260 |
J: T Doumen
T: F Doumen
|
| 2002 | Baracouda | 7 | 13/8 F | £72,500 |
J: T Doumen
T: F Doumen
|
| 2000 | Bacchanal | 6 | 11/2 | £66,700 |
J: Mick Fitzgerald
T: N J Henderson
|
Race Trivia
War Intervenes
There are many reasons why wars are bad, with the fact that horse races get abandoned being very low down on the list. Nevertheless, the Stayers’ Hurdle was not run at all between 1916 and 1919 because of the First World War. Likewise the Second World War caused the race to be called off from 1939 through to 1945.
Frost and Snow
War isn’t the only thing that has caused the Stayers’ Hurdle to be abandoned over the years. The race was called off in 1931, 1947 and 1949 because of frost and snow, and in 1937 because of flooding.
Despair To Ecstasy
A horse named Balasani caused disappointment for punters when it came second by a short head in 1994. Disappointment was followed by ecstasy, however, when it was eventually awarded the win because the horse that came first, Avro Anson, was relegated for ‘causing interference’.
Sandown Replacement
If you’ve read any of our other in-depth pages on the ‘Big Four’ races at the Cheltenham Festival then you won’t be surprised by what we’re about to tell you. In 2001 the entire meeting was called off because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. A replacement took place in a less prestigious capacity at Sandown Racecourse, though the winners of the races aren’t included in historical lists of winners.
Youngest Winner Was 4
The youngest age at which a horse has won the race is four. That has happened on two different occasions, firstly in 1932 when Icy Kiss won it and then again in 1934 when Fobdown had the honour.
Older Runners Lead The Way
If you’re willing to look back as far as when the race was first run in any format back in 1912 then the oldest horse to win it was Zarane, who did so in 1927 – aged 13. If you only want to know about the modern era, however, then Sire Du Berlias (2023) and Home By The Lee (2026) were both 11 years old. They were the first 11-year-olds to win since Crimson Embers in 1986 and before that it was 1927. Bob Olinger the 2025 winner was 10-years-old, in fact the only ten year old ever to win the race in its history – showing that in more recent times winners of the Stayers have been getting generally older. Several nine-year-olds have won the event between 1912 and now, including Big Buck’s in his fourth and record win.
Rachael Blackmore Certainly Now The Greatest Ever Cheltenham Female Jockey
Rachael Blackmore was the first female jockey to win one of the feature races at Cheltenham when she won the Champion Hurdle in 2021 (the same year she also became the first woman to win the Grand National), winning it again the year after. 2021 Rachael also became the first Champion Jockey at Cheltenham with 6 wins overall. She then became the first female jockey to win the Gold Cup in 2022 and she then won the Champion Chase in 2024. Therefore, her win with ten-year-old Bob Olinger in the Stayers’ Hurdle in 2025, for Henry de Bromhead, means she has now won all four of the Cheltenham feature races in just four short years. Astonishing and a feat unlikely to matched for a long time, what a role model.
The Stayers’ Hurdle History
This is a race that has two parts to its history. Officially, the race was run for the first time in 1912, and was actually a weight for age selling race, which is crazy to think now it’s a Grade One contest and one of the main Championship races.
It did struggle during its early years, and saw cancellations due to both wars, plus a removal from the calendar for a period of time.
In 1972, the race changed from being the Stayer Selling Hurdle to just the Stayers Hurdle, moving up in class, and cementing itself as a big race. For those who keep records, many see this as the true start of the race, when it was run at the top level and every year.
Briefly, from 2005 until 2015, after struggling with sponsors moving on, the race was named the World Hurdle, though this wasn’t a name that stuck around for long, with the Stayers Hurdle being the name of choice again in 2017.
Stayers’ Hurdle Famous Winners
Being a Championship race, it’s only right that we look back at some of the big winners of this contest over the years of it being a Grade One race.
To start, a back-to-back winner in 2002 and 2003, with French runner Baracouda taking the contest for Francois Doumen, at a time when a handful of French runners were making waves in UK racing, trying their luck over here, and going home with success.
Inglis Drever, a real flag bearer for Northern jumps racing, was a triple winner a few years later, winning the race in 2005, 2007 and 2008 for trainer Howard Johnson.
Perhaps the best ever came after him, and that was Big Bucks, trained by Paul Nicholls and coming at a time when he was dominating UK racing, the Cheltenham Festival, and pretty much everything he sent a runner to.
Big Bucks would become a four-time winner of this race, in four straight years, and for them all, he was ridden by the great Ruby Walsh.
The back-to-back years in which Inglis Drever and Big Bucks won this race took it to new heights. It was very close to being an equal with races such as the Champion Chase.
We’ve not quite felt that since, but perhaps a superstar will come along soon and drag this race back up to the top table where it belongs.