2025 Stayers' Hurdle News - Key quotes from connections
- Key quotes from connections ahead of the 2025 Stayers' Hurdle
- Teahupoo heads the betting on Thursday 13th March
- Read quotes from Gordon Elliott, Nicky Henderson, Joseph O'Brien and more on our website
Trainer Gordon Elliott watches horses on the gallops before Day One of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. (Getty)
Ahead of Thursday's Stayers' Hurdle, we've gathered quotes from the connections of this year's runners.
Here are the key quotes ahead of the 2025 Stayers' Hurdle.
Gordon Elliott (Teahupoo)
I couldn’t be happier with Teahupoo. He worked very well on Monday morning. Jack (Kennedy) rode him out on Wednesday too and was very pleased with him. We’re looking forward to running him back in the Stayers’ Hurdle again. I don’t think there’s any reason why he should be different to last year; he’s not got many miles on the clock and I think his run when second in this year’s Hatton’s Grace was even better than when he won the same race a year earlier. There was no gallop on and the ground was as quick as he’d want over that two-and-a-half-mile trip.
We always planned on going straight to Cheltenham and he’s in good nick. He’s not flashy at home, so you never really know where you are, but you take him away and he’s all right. He has the best form.
Gordon Elliott (The Wallpark)
I thought The Wallpark ran well in the Long Walk at Ascot. They didn’t go much of a gallop and quickened, and the penny only dropped with him from the last to the line. It wouldn’t shock me if he was placed in the Stayers’. He’ll be dangerous, because he’ll be coming home very fast. He’s an unassuming horse. It’s a case of weighing up whether you go for the Pertemps off topweight or not. Sire Du Berlais did that. I don’t know if he has the class of Sire Du Berlais.
Joseph O'Brien (Home By The Lee)
We’ve been particularly happy with Home By The Lee since Christmas. He’s training great. He’s had three goes at the Stayers’ Hurdle and has run well every time, but he’s on track to get there in his best shape yet I’d say, fingers crossed. He has just been really sweet this season. To see him do what he did without headgear in the Lismullen and then win so well with the headgear back on at Christmas, he just seems to be in a really good place physically and mentally.
Nicky Henderson (Lucky Place)
He would be very high on my list as one of my main contenders. He started the year meaning to go novice chasing and he was all schooled up and ready to go. At the time we had a whole string of novice chasers ready to go and three of them have finished up going back over hurdles as there wasn’t the opportunity for them to go over fences. At the last minute I popped him in the Ascot Hurdle as there was nowhere else to go and he is a very likeable uncomplicated horse.
He has a great attitude, and we are taking the stamina on trial but the form of when he won has worked out well. He has pretty solid form and with him we didn’t need to test him over three miles before the Stayers’ Hurdle. If you go on Trials Day over three miles you are definitely going to get a hard race. We trust his stamina and we are happy to find out on the day. He is working really well and is in good order.
Dan Skelton (Langer Dan)
We’re taking him on trust but we’ve just seen a glimmer, to be honest I’ve seen two glimmers of hope on the gallops, but they are literally glimmers. He passed a horse (on the gallop) but not a very good one!
But I remember last year and his work before the Coral, and that was equally as unimpressive.
We actually took the decision yesterday to clip him, we just thought his coat’s not coming through and we’re just doing everything we can. I’ve banged on and everyone’s probably bored of listening to me but this horse is so hard (to get right).
But when you’ve seen nothing, glimmers are beautiful!
Declan Queally (Rocky's Diamond)
He's only five, clear winded, great heart and stays forever — a brilliant horse. He has an entry in the Stayers Hurdle. He's cool, doesn't get overexcited so you wouldn't rule it out. I think a better gallop would suit him, but he did well there off slow fractions. When he turned in I thought he would get swallowed up, but he's not a slow horse either. He was a bit of a fool as a younger horse, but he's grown and he's matured. He does things easily at home, so it's hard to know how good he's going to be. He's light-framed so we don't kill him. Hopefully he'll keep improving.
He's 16/1 but you would like to think that he could finish 3rd or 4th. It's going to be a big ask to win it, but his owners, David and Margret (Kiely), are looking forward to going, and we are looking forward to going. We will give it out best shot.
Henry De Bromhead (Bob Olinger)
He ran well at Leopardstown but was beaten by a better horse on the day in Home By The Lee. I thought he could overturn the Navan form with him, so it was a little disappointing, but he ran a good race. He has a great record around Cheltenham and is being aimed at the spring, so we'll see about the Stayers'.
Fergal O'Brien (Crambo)
I didn’t want to take him to another gallop or Lambourn or wherever, I wanted him to have a day at the racecourse and come alive again and he did great, so I was delighted.
It all went well, you go there with a lot of people there watching and you just don’t want any of them to bomb out. Thankfully none of them did and they all galloped really well.
Kerry Lee (Nemean Lion)
We’re incredibly lucky to have such a versatile horse. A year ago he was winning the Kingwell over two miles and he’s won three races this season over two and a half and he wasn’t stopping today over two and a half on very soft ground.
I know Fontwell isn’t a stiff track by any stretch, but there is still an incline coming home, so I was really impressed with that.
Paul Nicholls (Monmiral)
He won the Pertemps Final for us last year. He has been running well this season, but he is no man’s land with a rating of 149. I suspect he will have 12st in the Pertemps when the weights come out tomorrow and I have also put him in the Stayers' Hurdle. He ran well at Newbury and at Cheltenham - but the best you could really hope for in the Stayers' would be to get placed.
Jamie Snowden (Ga Law)
His best form is on good to soft or good so we just thought we would abide ourselves with a little bit of patience, but the Stayers’ Hurdle is still in the reckoning as a possible. “The plan is the ground. If we get too picky about the ground over fences, we would never run him. We are just going to avoid the worst of the winter ground.
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