STAYERS’ HURDLE HEROES: We thought it would be good fun to reminisce over some of our favourite Stayer’s Hurdle winners.

Since the Cheltenham Festival went to a four day meeting, perhaps the Thursday isn’t viewed in the same light as the other three days. You can understand why when the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup are such great occasions, but we’ve had some incredible Stayers Hurdle moments too!

We’ve looked back at the last ten years and picked out our three favourite races. There have been some crackers.

3️⃣  2019. Winner: Paisley Park

It’s hard to look back over the last ten years and not include Paisley Park winning in our top three moments. What an incredible story. Perhaps we look on it with rose tinted glasses, but isn’t that what horse racing is all about – having favourites!

The way Paisley Park took off up the Cheltenham hill was impressive. He was unbeaten in the season leading up to this and he delivered on the big day. It’s hard to get away from what a great story this is with his owner and although it was a shame he couldn’t repeat the win this season, this moment will never be forgotten.

2️⃣ 2014. Winner: More Of That

Annie Power was one of the most talked about horses heading into the Festival in 2014 but it was More Of That who came out on top. There were no excuses for Annie Power too, she was just beaten by the better horse on the day. It was such a shame that after 2015 More Of That was never the same horse, but this was an incredible race.

Annie Power went off clear favourite and the legendary Big Buck’s was well beaten too. This was an epic battle up the Cheltenham hill as Annie Power came to challenge in between the two JP McManus runners but it was More Of That in command at the finish.

1️⃣  2012. Winner: Big Buck’s

Who could forget the brilliant Big Buck’s? It was very interesting that Ruby Walsh actually said at Cheltenham this year that he used to pretend that he hit a flat spot on Big Buck’s not to get to the front too early! What do you think, could that be true?

Big Buck’s was a winning machine over three miles and this was his fourth Stayers Hurdle. We’re unlikely to see that again any time soon. The commentary was superb here too “Big Buck’s and Ruby Walsh want to look the rival in the eye.” Ruby knew Big Buck’s would battle all the way to the line – this was 16 wins in a row! What a legend and an all-time Cheltenham Festival great.