2023 Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle: stats and trends

What Grade? Grade One. What course? New Course What distance? 3m (12 hurdles).

Prize-money? £240,000 Ages: 4yo+ which are allotted a BHA rating of 130 or more Weights & Allowances: 5yo+ 11st 10lb, 4yo 11st. Allowances - mares 7lb

Sponsor: Paddy Power

Key statistics and trends:

Repeat winners:

The history of the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle is dominated by staying greats Big Buck's (four-time winner) and Inglis Drever (three-time winner). Curernt champion Flooring Porter has also won the prize for the last two years, reassuming thr trend of repeat winners after a run of nine different horses getting in the winner's enclosure from the past 10 runnings.

Best after a break:

Winners of this race tend to arrive here fresh, even if Penhill (2018) was an extreme example when triumphing on his seasonal return. Not since My Way De Solzen (2006) has the winner been in racecourse action within the previous six weeks.

Favourites do well:

There were three winners at 20-1 or more in the 1990s and, after the dominance of Big Buck's and Inglis Drever, we are once again seeing big-priced winners in this race. Lisnagar Oscar triumphed at 50-1 in 2020 while five of the last eight winners have returned at double-figure prices.

Age:

The oldest winner was Crimson Embers, aged 11 at the time of his second success in 1986.

The youngest winners have been six-year-olds Cole Harden (2015), More Of That (2014), Big Buck’s (2009), My Way De Solzen (2006), Inglis Drever (2005), Bacchanal (2000), Cyborgo (2006), Dorans Pride (1995), Trapper John (1990), Rose Ravine (1985), Derring Rose (1981), Mountrivers (1980), Lighter (1979), Flame Gun (1978) and Town Ship (1977).

Seven-year-olds have won five of the past six runnings.

Race History:

A three-mile hurdling contest was first introduced at Cheltenham in 1912, but it was run as a seller until the start of the Second World War with the winners auctioned off afterwards.

A three-mile conditions race was introduced at the first post-war Festival in 1946 and the Spa Hurdle proved immediately well supported.

In its first year, the race was run in two 17-runner divisions, won by Haze and Tregor. The first really high-class winner was the Vincent O’Brien-trained Stroller in 1956, who had been beaten a head by Clair Soleil in the 1955 Champion Hurdle and then fell as favourite for the 1956 two-mile championship before making amends, by a short-head, in the longer contest two days later.

Clair Soleil took the Spa Hurdle in 1959 and another Champion Hurdle winner Merry Deal, followed suit in 1962. They are the only two horses to have won both races.

The Spa Hurdle was transferred to the April meeting in 1968, swopping spots in the racing calendar with the Triumph Hurdle, before returning in 1971.

The race’s name was changed to the Lloyds Bank Hurdle in 1972, before a change of sponsor in 1978 saw the contest called the Waterford Crystal Stayers’ Hurdle, while the Bonusprint Stayers’ Hurdle took place between 1991 and 2004.

Ladbrokes sponsored from 2005 to 2015, with Ryanair backing the 2016 renewal, during which time the race was known as the World Hurdle. The contest reverted to its earlier Stayers’ Hurdle handle in 2017. Paddy Power has sponsored the race since 2020.

Recent renewals of the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle:

Flooring Porter received a fine ride from Danny Mullins to retain his Stayers' Hurdle crown and join an elite band of multiple winners of the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle.

Concerns on how Flooring Porter would react to a massive crowd after winning in near silence behind closed doors at Leopardstown were allayed as the seven-year-old put up a fine front-running performance to dominate in the day-three highlight.

Trainer Gavin Cromwell: "What can you say? This horse has just really matured.

"Danny is so good with those front-runners, he seems to have a serious clock in his head and he’s a real horseman. It’s there for everyone to see and Flooring Porter hasn’t been straightforward, he’s just gone with him straight away. He’s just a proper horseman."