Ruby Walsh’s Stayers Hurdle tips – Paddy Power News

Ruby reckons Gordon Elliott holds all the aces in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle with Teahupoo, Honesty Policy and even The Yellow Clay.

*Odds quoted on the widget are Future Racing / Antepost prices which means that if your selection does not run in the race for whatever reason – you will lose your stake under traditional Antepost rules.

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change

Paddy’s From The Horse’s Mouth podcast’s ‘Cheltenham Countdown’ is back for 2026 as our host with the most Tom Nugent picks the brains of the Cheltenham Festival’s GOAT rider turned TV tactician Ruby Walsh and well-known journalist and broadcaster Rory Delargy for their best Cheltenham betting tips.

In the second episode of this year’s series, the gang have looked at the Stayers Hurdle ahead of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival and you can check it out on Paddy’s Horse Racing YouTube channel right now! Here’s what Ruby fancies in this year’s Stayers Hurdle.

Ruby Walsh

I was a big fan of Teahupoo’s win in the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown. I thought the race really played out to suit him.

Rocky’s Diamond went a really good gallop, Ballyburn sat second, looked momentarily in trouble at the second hurdle away from the stands, but as the race progressed, Teahupoo came to the fore and I thought he was really good.

I thought it was as good as Teahupoo has shown on the track performance-wise and nothing to dislike about it. Gordon Elliott holds all the aces!

This is a division where something can come along and stamp their authority but that being said, Teahupoo is slightly unlucky not to be a multiple winner. Jack Kennedy blames himself last year that he probably didn’t make enough use of him from the second last hurdle up to the road crossing at Cheltenham.

Teahupoo won it the year before that and he was unlucky before that – he could be a triple Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle winner! He could be heading for a fourth, he’s slightly unlucky not to be when you look at it.

So Teahupoo does set a standard and he is a very good horse but he is going back for his fourth and that takes fair doing. Big Bucks wasn’t unlucky, he just managed to keep winning no matter what I tried to do on him, he managed to find a way out of it and win.

For that reason Teahupoo could be slightly vulnerable. I love Honesty Policy, I loved him in the Long Walk. I thought he progressed terrifically last year and that’s why I say Gordon holds the aces. Honesty Policy will give him all he wants.

I get the fact that he’s a six-year-old and he probably doesn’t have the depth of runs of the traditional Stayers’ Hurdle winner but I just think he looks really talented. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up a Gold Cup horse in time.

I like Honesty Policy as a pick and one worth chancing at a price because he’ll need to really bounce back and be freshened up is The Yellow Clay.

He had too hard a race in Navan (where they’ve taken out the middle hurdle in the straight so there’s only two hurdles in it now), especially as he was having his first run of the season, when losing out to Colonel Mustard. Gordon’s at the time were needing a run, that second last hurdle was out, the middle hurdle, so they got racing a long way out. They were absolutely legless at the end.

I wonder is Navan (with just two hurdles in the straight) actually having that sort of a knock-on effect now on horses? I must look it up.

The Yellow Clay was backed into 4-1 at Christmas but I wonder if the effects of that Navan race were still on him? I wonder if Gordon Elliott will completely freshen him up. He was a really good novice last year and split The New Lion and Final Demand in the Turners Novices. Hurdle.

It’s just as a flyer.

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change

Ruby Walsh’s Stayers Hurdle tips – Paddy Power News

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