Cheltenham Festival 2027 ante-post guides
Updated 21 October 2026. Ante-post markets move a lot before March, so we refresh this guide after the key trials.
The Stayers' Hurdle is the Festival's championship race for staying hurdlers, run over about three miles on the Thursday. The market is wide open this autumn: Bob Olinger has retired, Ballyburn has been ruled out for the season, and the early leaders are mostly horses who still have to prove they belong at this level or over this trip. The New Lion heads most lists at around 8/1, with last year's 33/1 winner Home By The Lee and dual runner-up Teahupoo both available at 16/1 or bigger.
Teahupoo fits the strongest recent trends: he's Irish-trained like the last six winners, three of the last four winners were aged 10 or over, and four of the last five had already run in the race, where he's recorded a win and two seconds. At around 20/1 he's overlooked after one below-par run in March, while most of the horses ahead of him in the market haven't yet been tested at this level or over this trip.
| Irish-trained horses have won the last six | Ireland won 8 of the 10 renewals, and every one from 2021 to 2026. The last British-trained winners were Paisley Park in 2019 and Lisnagar Oscar in 2020. |
| Seven-year-olds won 6 of 10, but older horses have taken over | Seven-year-olds dominated up to 2024, but three of the last four winners were 10 or older: Sire Du Berlais at 11, Bob Olinger at 10 and Home By The Lee at 11. |
| No eight- or nine-year-old winner | Every winner was 6, 7, 10 or 11. That counts against several of the 2027 market leaders who will be eight next spring. |
| Favourites won only 2 of 10 | Paisley Park (11/8, 2019) and Teahupoo (5/4, 2024) were the only winning favourites, and both odds-on favourites in the period lost: Unowhatimeanharry was third in 2017 and Paisley Park seventh in 2020. |
| Big prices are common | Seven of the 10 winners started at 8/1 or bigger, and three went off at 33/1 or more: Lisnagar Oscar (50/1), Sire Du Berlais (33/1) and Home By The Lee (33/1). |
| Recent form matters | Seven of the 10 winners finished first or second last time out, and every winner who completed its previous race had finished in the first four. |
| Experience of the race counts | Four of the last five winners had run in the race before: Flooring Porter, Sire Du Berlais, Teahupoo and Home By The Lee, who won at his fifth attempt. |
| Winners rated 163 or higher | The five winners with official ratings in our data (2022 to 2026) were rated between 163 and 173, so a horse rated in the 150s needs to improve significantly. |
He's a top-class hurdler who won the 2025 Turners and the Unibet Hurdle at Cheltenham, then ran third in the 2026 Champion Hurdle and second in the Aintree Hurdle. Several judges think a step up in trip could suit.
Against: He has never raced over three miles, his trainer has mostly kept him at two miles, he'll be eight in March (no eight-year-old won in the last 10 renewals) and he'd be the first British-trained winner since 2020.
He was a fast-improving novice who ran third at 50/1 in the Turners after meeting trouble in running, then won the Sefton over just over three miles at Aintree. He'll be a six-year-old in 2027 and is trained by the man who won the race last year.
Against: His jockey JJ Slevin said after Aintree that he expects him to go chasing this season, so he may never line up.
He's won at Cheltenham over this course and distance, taking the 2025 Albert Bartlett, and followed up in a three-mile Grade 1 novice at Punchestown. Penhill won the 2018 Stayers' Hurdle for the same yard after a long break.
Against: He hasn't run since April 2025 after a setback, he'll be eight in March, and Mullins has talked about sending him over fences.
He's unbeaten in three hurdles starts, most recently winning a three-mile Grade 1 novice at Punchestown at 18/1. His trainer has confirmed he'll stay over hurdles this season and start in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury.
Against: He was rated only 132 going into Punchestown, well short of the 163-plus standard of recent winners, and he's never run at Cheltenham.
He's run in this race four times for a win (2024) and two seconds, he won the Hatton's Grace and the Christmas Hurdle last winter, and he's rated around 170, the top of the range for recent winners.
Against: He'll be 10, he finished only sixth here in March as the 9/4 favourite, and he was third behind Bob Olinger at Punchestown in first-time blinkers.
He's the defending champion, winning at the fifth attempt, and he followed up by seven lengths in the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree, so he's arguably in the form of his life.
Against: He'll be 12 next March, and no horse that old won in the 10 renewals we checked.
Prices are a rough guide to the ante-post market when this guide was updated, not an offer.
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