Stayers' Hurdle Guide: Distance, History, Last 10 Winners and Why Outsiders Keep Winning

Quick facts

Live race page, runners and prices: /races/stayers-hurdle.

What the race asks

Three miles over hurdles on the New Course — the more galloping track, with a longer run-in — and then the hill. Stamina is the obvious requirement, but the last ten results suggest something else too: the market has found this race unusually hard to read. Six of the ten winners were returned at 10/1 or bigger. Whether that reflects the difficulty of judging stamina from shorter-distance form, the ages of the horses involved or simply variance, the table cannot say. What it can say is that backing the favourite here has been a poor strategy over the decade.

History in brief

The race was formerly run as the World Hurdle and is now the Stayers' Hurdle. Our race database records it as first run in 1972; that date is not yet verified against a primary source. The Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle on the Friday is run over the same distance and is the traditional novice pointer to future Stayers' Hurdles.

Last 10 winners

Caveat on the SP column. The 2017–2025 starting prices are taken from a single Wikipedia table. The 2023 SP is cross-checked against The Irish Times and the 2026 SP against the Racing Post. Until each of the other years is cross-checked line by line, treat those SPs as reported rather than verified. Winners, trainers and jockeys are not affected by this caveat. Rachael Blackmore and Ruby Walsh are retired.

What the table actually shows

Counted only from the ten rows above, with the SP caveat carried through.

Favourites

Working: two rows carry a favourite marker. The Stayers' Hurdle therefore has the weakest favourites' record of the four championships in our tables — compare the Champion Hurdle (7 of 10) and Gold Cup (5 of 10).

Price bands

Six of ten winners were double-figure prices. The longest is Lisnagar Oscar at 50/1 (2020); the shortest is Teahupoo at 5/4 (2024). In implied-probability terms, a 33/1 shot carries about a 2.9% chance at SP and a 50/1 shot about 2.0% — three such winners in ten years is the headline fact about this race.

Trainers and jockeys

Unlike the other three championships, no trainer or jockey has dominated: the ten runnings were shared by seven trainers and nine jockeys.

Ireland v Britain

Using the trainer bases in our trainer database: Mullins, Cromwell, Elliott, O'Brien and de Bromhead train in Ireland (8 wins); Curtis and Lavelle in Britain (2 wins, 2019 and 2020 — consecutive years).

Repeat winners

Flooring Porter (2021, 2022) is the only dual winner; nine different horses account for the ten runnings.

What the table cannot tell you

Ages, ratings, going and previous-run form are not held, so we publish no trend on them. We have not verified how many winners came via the Albert Bartlett, so we make no claim about it.

The 2027 picture as of 14 September 2026

No verified third-party ante-post market has been found for the 2027 Stayers' Hurdle. The horses on our race page are the recent principals: Home By The Lee (2026 winner), Ballyburn (2026 runner-up, Willie Mullins), Bob Olinger (2025 winner) and Teahupoo (2024 winner). Prices shown for them are DEMO until a licensed odds feed is connected.

Before you bet: a checklist

1. Proven stamina: three miles up the New Course hill; the race has not been kind to horses stepping up in trip on trust.
2. Market scepticism: two winning favourites in ten years; six double-figure winners. Price, not reputation, has been the better guide.
3. Each-way: the outsider record makes this the championship race where each-way arithmetic most often makes sense — but only at prices above the break-even for the place terms offered.
4. SP caveat: our 2017–2025 SPs are single-source. Do not build a staking plan on a number we have flagged.
5. Ante-post: no verified market yet; see the ante-post guide for the timeline.

This is analysis, not a tip. 18+. BeGambleAware.org.