Galmoy, the first horse to achieve glory in successive years, was the best winner to that time. Trained by John Mulhern and ridden Tommy Carmody, he triumphed by six lengths in 1987 and seven lengths the following year, on both occasions providing Ireland’s sole victory at The Festival from 18 races. Galmoy also finished second in 1989. Since moving to its present Thursday slot in 1993, the race has been scheduled for the New Course. It is arguably the toughest of The Festival championships; long-distance hurdlers do not get as much of a respite in the air over obstacles as do staying chasers. And from 2002, the Stayers’ Hurdle has achieved real recognition and its competitors a substantial fanbase, thanks to the exploits of three multiple winners – Baracouda, Inglis Drever and Big Buck’s - and the substantial increase in the prize fund. The <strong>2017</strong> total prize fund stands at £300,000. Baracouda was the first specialist stayer to be rated the season’s best hurdler by Timeform. Trained by Francois Doumen near Chantilly in France, Baracouda burst on the British scene as a five-year-old with a 14-length victory over Deeno’s Beano in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot in 2000. The foot-and mouth outbreak denied him his chance of Festival success at Cheltenham that season, but he made no mistake in 2002 and 2003, with the trainer’s son Thierry up on both occasions, by which time he was carrying J P McManus’s colours. On his first visit to The Festival, he won the stayers’ crown by a neck from Bannow Bay; on his second he scored by three quarters of a length from Iris’s Gift, with Limestone Lad third. The three were in the air together at the last in what was regarded as the race of the meeting. Baracouda, due to his quirks, had to be delivered with perfect timing but the excitement and uncertainty of his running style endeared him to the public. The French horse lost his title to Iris’s Gift in 2004, finished second again in 2005 (to Inglis Drever), when hot favourite both times, and came fifth, aged 11, in 2006, his final race. In all, he was successful on 18 of his 27 starts over hurdles, including seven Grade Ones. Inglis Drever, who beat Baracouda fair and square by three lengths under Graham Lee, could not defend his title in 2006 after damaging a tendon but regained it in 2007 and kept the status in 2008, becoming the first three-time winner. Though the little Flat-bred gelding, trained by Howard Johnson in County Durham for then-newcomers Andrea and Graham Wylie, had his physical problems, he was thoroughly genuine; a little streetfighter with an admirable attitude at the sharp end. His only three Grade One victories came at Cheltenham, where the finishing hill played to his strengths; in 2007, with Paddy Brennan up, he bettered Mighty Man by three quarters of a length after a tremendous scrap, and though the Doumen-trained Kasbah Bliss made him work in 2008, with Denis O’Regan in the saddle, and was only a length behind at the line, the third success and his place in history was never in doubt. Events at Newbury in November that year determined the future course of the long-distance hurdling division. The career of Inglis Drever came to an end as he sustained a hock injury on his seasonal debut, and that of Big Buck’s changed direction as he clumsily unseated his rider at the last fence in the Hennessy Gold Cup. Big Buck’s, trained by Paul Nicholls, had been a smart four-year-old hurdler in his native France and his reversion to the smaller obstacles created a legend. His victory off top-weight in a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham in January, 2009 set up a winning streak of 18, a record for a Jump horse, beating Sir Ken’s series of 16 set during the early 1950s. Big Buck’s 10 Grade One victories included an unprecedented four Stayers’ Hurdles under Ruby Walsh, his runners-up being Punchestowns (beaten 1¾l), Time For Rupert (3¼l), Grands Crus (1¾l) and Voler La Vedette (1¾l). Big Buck’s, who carried the colours of the Stewart family, was another perceived to have recidivist tendencies – he sometimes hit a flat spot and tended to idle in front - but his domination of the division was absolute. After his first Stayers’ Hurdle success, the third win of his sequence, he always started at odds-on. His wins came by an aggregate 82¾l and he always put daylight between himself and his rivals, with a minimum win margin of a length and three quarters. Big Buck’s last victory came, by nine lengths at odds of 1/12, in the 2012 Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, four years to the day after his Hennessy blunder. A minor tendon injury then ruled him out of action until January, 2014, when he finished a close third at Cheltenham, before ending his magnificent career at The Festival with fifth in the Stayers’ Hurdle to then-unbeaten More Of That, trained by Jonjo O’Neill for McManus. Star mare Annie Power lost her unbeaten record when second but went on the win the Stan James Champion Hurdle in 2016. Thistlecrack utterly dominated the staying hurdle division in the 2015/16 season, winning on all his five starts. At The Festival, he had no difficulty in the Stayers’ Hurdle as he powered home seven lengths clear of Alpha Des Obeaux for an easy and impressive victory. In the 2015-2016 official Anglo-Irish Jump Classifications, Thistlecrack was rated 174, the same as Big Bucks. He was switched to fences in 2016/17 and is set to attempt to follow in the footsteps of Captain Christy and Coneygree by winning the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup as a novice chaser. 46
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