Stayers' Hurdle 2025 Tips - Pre-season guide and preview

Defending champion, Teahupoo is already as short as 9/4 to make it back-to-back Stayers' Hurdle wins in 2025. Gordon Elliott's star enjoyed an unbeaten campaign last term, winning the Hatton's Grace and the Champion Stayers' at Punchestown, either side of his first Cheltenham Festival success.

Long-term injuries to chief market rivals Theleme and Irish Point may be contributing to Teahupoo's incredbly short ante-post price. However, he's clearly the stand-out horse in a weak division and, if his return in the Hatton's Grace goes to plan, he could carry an odds-on price into the 2025 Stayers' Hurdle.

Brighterdaysahead and Lossiemouth feature prominently in the market, but both will either run in the Champion or Mares' Hurdles. Ballyburn, Impaire Et Passe, Slade Steel and Dancing City are supposed to be going chasing this season, so they won't run in the Stayers' Hurdle either.

Olly Murphy's Strong Leader skipped Cheltenham to target the Liverpool Hurdle, which he won convincingly under Sean Bowen. A third-place finish behind Noble Yeats in the Cleeve Hurdle showed that he could handle the track at Cheltenham - as his two previous visits had been poor. Strong Leader might be the best-staying hurdler in England, but he seems to have plenty to find on Teahupoo, who saw off the top two in the Cleeve without breaking a sweat.

It's difficult to even find a possible springer in the Stayers' Hurdle market. Gavin Cromwell has earmarked the Grand National for Flooring Porter, making a fifth tilt at this Grade One seem unlikely. French star Losange Bleu can be backed at 14/1 with some firms, but he's never raced away from Auteuil and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Sandor Clegane is reverting back to hurdles this term and could make up into a Stayers' Hurdle type. There could be more progression to come from Blueking D'Oroux. The progressive French five-year-old St Donats would be interesting if declared and I don't think Crambo can be completely ignored.

The only horse who could be worth backing at this stage is Langer Dan. Dan Skelton's star has won the last two renewals of the Coral Cup and was unlucky not to have beaten Impaire Et Passe when second to that rival in the Aintree Hurdle. Skelton's star comes alive in the spring and his style of running lends itself to long-distance races.