Cheltenham Stayers' Hurdle preview: Betting tips and best odds

talkSPORT

13 March 2023

Cheltenham Stayers' Hurdle preview: Betting tips and best odds

The Cheltenham Festival is only a day away and this year’s races promise to be the most exciting ones yet.

Right after the Champion Hurdle race on Tuesday, things will continue to heat up with Slayers’ Hurdle. Take a look at the odds and betting predictions for the Wednesday race.

Stayers’ Hurdle Prediction

Teahupoo – 7/2 bet with bet365
Blazing Khal – 3/1 bet with William Hill
Paisley Park – 14/1 bet with BetVictor

Big Buck’s, Inglis Drever, Barracuda…there have been star names who have been multiple winners of the Stayers’ Hurdle and FLOORING PORTER will be looking to etch his name into history by making it three wins on the bounce in the famous race. The problem is, that it’s been a stop-start season for the dual champion, and there is the prospect of much softer ground this time around. He won’t go down without a fight, but does he have the tools to fend off the wannabe champions this time around? It has to be a worry for all he very much has the ‘been there done it’ factor.

BLAZING KHAL is unbeaten in four starts over Hurdles, and brings good course form to the table. The 7-year-old defied a 428-day absence and a big drift in the market to win the Boyne Hurdle with ease. The raw form of that race isn’t anything particularly magic to write home about, but he travelled through the race powerfully and quickened up in good style.

There have been reports of a minor setback, but has been given the green light for this subsequently and has to be on anyones’ shortlist for this assignment, for the yard that won this in 2013 with Solwhit. He shapes as though he should be more than capable of making his presence felt in his acid test and he can bank on his strong course form to shine through when he hits the hard yards of the Cheltenham Hill.

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TEAHUPOO has thrived since being ‘reinvented’ over longer trips, beating Klassical Dream and Honeysuckle in the Hatton’s Grace, and then when stepped up to an extended 3m in the Galmoy Hurdle in January, he absolutely pulverised the opposition, winning by 15 lengths eased down.

The bare form is nothing exciting, but he clearly thrived when upped to that trip, and with the weather forecast as it is, ground conditions could crucially be in his favour. On spring ground it would be a worry, but with a realistic opportunity of Soft/Heavy ground materialising this unexposed stayer looks a real threat and could be one of Gordon Elliott’s strongest chances of the week.

HOME BY THE LEE was well beaten in this race 12 months ago, but looks a different proposition this season, and arrives on a hattrick having secured Grade 1 honours at Leopardstown in December. Deliberately kept fresh for this since then, he looks an each-way player for all that there are others in here with perhaps more unexposed profiles who could have a lot more to offer. He looks versatile in regards to underfoot conditions so whatever the ground is, it shouldn’t make much difference but my overall feeling is that this is a deeper race than the one he failed to win last season.

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KLASSICAL DREAM is a little bit of an enigma, but has the ability to go close on his best form. The winner of the 2019 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle was beaten 5l in this race last year, but got his head back in front immediately afterwards at the Punchestown Festival.

Beaten narrowly by Teahupoo in December, he would have leading claims based on that form, but it has to be of concern that he had a little setback afterwards and is guaranteed to make the gig. Anyhow, it isn’t the preparation you want leading into his biggest race of the season, so is passed over on that basis.

Of those at bigger prices – we probably have to pay a lot of attention to the Cleeve Hurdle which was won in excellent style by French raider GOLD TWEET. The 6-year-old won in excellent style after travelling into the race smoothly and has to be taken seriously here. He didn’t have an entry for the race but has been supplemented for Prestbury Park subsequently.

In winning at Cheltenham, Gold Tweet got the better of DASHEL DRASHER who represents the Jeremy Scott yard and will appreciate any rain that falls albeit he may just come up short on the day. The third on that day was PAISLEY PARK who was third last year and won this in 2019. It was an uncharacteristically lacklustre effort from the veteran who was probably feeling the effects of a hard race at Kempton when he scooped Grade 1 honours over the Christmas period. Freshened up by Emma Lavelle it wouldn’t be the biggest shock in the world if he showed much more of his old zest here and came with his customary storming late run up the home straight. Hitting the frame is far from an impossibility in what could easily be his Festival swansong.

All in all, this looks gloriously wide-open, and a case can be made for at least half-a-dozen of the likely participants. Ground could be the deciding factor, and it is a case of more rain the merrier for quite a few. Undoubtedly, the likelihood of soft ground very much plays to the strengths of the Gordon Elliott trained TEAHUPOO and he gets the tentative in a race in which it is hard to rule out anything with confidence.