Stayers’ Hurdle Tips: Classy Closutton Runner Is Being Overlooked
The Stayers’ Hurdle looks the most competitive of the four feature races at Cheltenham, with a host of horses and connections that will be dreaming of scooping the big pot on Thursday. Billy Grimshaw previews the contest for us and gives his idea of the winner…
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Plenty have latched onto the fact Davy Russell was riding one armed last season at the Cheltenham Festival as a reason plenty of his rides in 2023 will have a better chance in 2024. Some horses who could benefit are Pied Piper in the County and the favourite for this race Teahupoo.
He could only manage third in last season’s renewal of the race, however it is easy to forget that he is still a young horse at seven. He was very young at six last year and coming to the last he was certainly travelling sweetest, so with a more vigorous ride shall we say then there is definitely an argument to be made that he would’ve won.
Nevertheless, the horse’s need for soft to be at his best and the fact he couldn’t get past the admirable veteran Sire Du Berlais, who is back this year and being disrespected once more certainly from an each-way perspective, would put me off backing him at the price he is now. Additionally, the form of his Hatton’s Grace win, as great as it looked at the time, must now be called into question considering the floppy nature of Impaire Et Passe’s season.
I was on Irish Point antepost at a nice enough price, so I’m sure you dear reader can imagine the enjoyment I have taken in Gordon Elliott deciding he is off to the Champion Hurdle rather than this race. He may well win on Tuesday but he’d have had a better chance here, but nevertheless we must move on front he antepost gut-punchers.
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Crambo is clearly improving and the style of his win here last time out marks him out as one worthy of support. He is the same age as Teahupoo but feels less exposed and is undoubtedly the best British contender. The horse he just outbattled Paisley Park would definitely be single figures were he not a twelve year old and perhaps could warrant some each-way support. If he were to win, I think the roof might come off at Cheltenham!
Noble Yeats has had a smart campaign and is a real contender in this, particularly on the back of his Cleeve win and fine fourth in last year’s Gold Cup. If he reproduced a run of that standard he’d be hard to beat and nothing will stay better than this Grand National winner, however I am going to take a risk and say that speed will count more than stamina in this year’s renewal.
With this in mind, I am siding with the two-time Cheltenham winner SIR GERHARD. He was seen as the next big thing post his Cheltenham Bumper win in 2021 and his 2022 Ballymore (now Gallaghers) win meant he had the world at his feet heading novice chasing in 2022/23.
Jumping issues plagued him over the bigger obstacles, however, but when he got things right he showed he was still enormously classy. Willie Mullins has had this race in mind for a while now and I have a feeling the horse will put in a brilliant performance here. He certainly has more tactical speed than most in here and if the race sets up in that style rather than a pure stamina test, he should have the class to claim Day 3’s feature.