By Callum Close
The 2025 national hunt season will reach its climax when the Cheltenham Festival gets underway in four weeks’ time.
Tuesday, March 11 is the date that will see Britain and Ireland’s top yards gather in the West of England for four days of prestigious racing.
The Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is the ‘curtain raiser’ for the 28 races across the four days. It precedes a week rivalled by none other in British racing.
Cheltenham Festival is highlighted by a feature race on each day and day three’s is the Stayers’ Hurdle.
This stamina-sapping Grade One contest is run over three miles on Cheltenham’s new course, with 12 hurdles standing between starters’ orders and the winning post.
It is the championship contest for top long-distance hurdlers, awarding prize money worth £325,000.
Teahupoo the ante-post favourite
This year’s renewal will see the Irish-trained gelding Teahupoo go for back-to-back wins in the race.
Trainer Gordon Elliot’s horse is the ante-post favourite (4/5) and won last year’s renewal after defeating two-time winner Flooring Porter – who won’t run this season due to injury.
His record at the Festival is one win from three races, with two defeats coming in the 2023 renewal and 2022 Champion Hurdle – won by stablemate Sire du Berlais and fan-favourite mare Honeysuckle.
Last week, Elliott told the Racing Post: “Teahupoo worked very well on Wednesday. We worked him on grass and he did very well. He’s on track for it (Stayers’ Hurdle). He’s not a flashy horse but we’re looking forward to running him.
“I think his form is better coming out of Fairyhouse this season than last season. I’m happy anyway.
“Teahupoo looks rock solid. He suits the race.”
Biggest chance
He holds the biggest chance of multiple – possible – representatives from the Elliot stable including The Wallpark, owned by JP McManus, and last year’s Albert Bartlett winner Stellar Story.
The former is a 16/1 chance whilst the latter trades at 20/1, with them both shorter prices for other Festival races.
Elliot is looking to make it three consecutive wins, with Teahupoo and the late Sire du Berlais winning the last two runnings.
His stable will likely face the re-opposing Home By The Lee, whom Teahupoo has conquered twice previously – first in this race last year, then in the Champion Stayers’ Hurdle at Punchestown.
The gelding, trained by Joseph O’Brien, is two wins from two this season after defeating twice-Festival winner Bob Olinger in the Lismullen Hurdle and Savills Hurdle – both contested in Ireland.
After the latter, O’Brien said: “He’s a superstar and has been a great horse for a number of years. He had a really good reappearance at Navan and this was a big performance.”
Despite Home By The Lee trading as the 13/2 second favourite, O’Brien was realistic in his Stayers’ claims when he said: “ I guess he will go back to Cheltenham with an each-way chance.”
Fourth in 2024 Coral Cup
Britain’s chances in the race are spearheaded by trainer Nicky Henderson’s Lucky Place – who, in his only run at the Festival, was fourth in last year’s Coral Cup.
Henderson’s horse is undefeated in two runs since, beating his Cheltenham conqueror and two-time Coral Cup winner Langer Dan in the process.
He is the 9/1 third favourite and would be Henderson’s third winner in the race and his first since 2000.
Langer Dan himself holds an outside chance for fellow British trainer Dan Skelton, who said: “I think he’ll end up running in the Stayers’ but we’re taking it on trust that he is going to turn up for us.
“He hasn’t looked good this winter but he never does, he just gets to Cheltenham in March and does it – I can’t explain it.”
However, he is winless since last year’s Festival and is currently 25/1 to win the Stayers’ and 18/1 to make it a hat-trick of Coral Cup wins.
Trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies’ Gowel Road (16/1) is another with a shot at winning this year’s Stayers’ Hurdle.
Since losing the 2024 Pertemps at the Festival, he has run exclusively at Cheltenham – winning once and placing second four times.
The Irish have won the last four runnings and a British-trained victor would be the first since Lisnagar Oscar in 2020.
READ MORE: Cheltenham Festival 2025 – Dates, how to watch on TV, trainers and jockeys to watch