Cheltenham Tips: Rory Delargy’s 5/1 ante-post Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle Pick

Rory reckons Gordon Elliott's Irish Point could go all the way in the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle and if Gavin Cromwell has a change of heart his dual winner Flooring Porter won't be the price he is now.

By Rory Delargy / Cheltenham Festival, Horse Racing Tips / 3 months ago

*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.

Rory Delargy’s Stayers’ Hurdle Picks:

Irish Point

Flooring Porter

In the third of this year’s Paddy Power Media’s ‘From The Horse’s Mouth’ podcast ‘Cheltenham Countdown’, host Tom Nugent, together with former champion jockey turned TV pundit Ruby Walsh and well-known journalist and broadcaster Rory Delargy, look at the Stayers’ Hurdle on day two of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.

RORY DELARGY

I have put Irish Point up for this. I laid my cards on him early in December, when he was at the bigger price before he won the Christmas Hurdle on December 28th. I thought he was good value ante-post at that stage.

He is at a fair price now, and I still like him, but he still needs to prove that he can stay three miles. Home By The Lee didn’t set a strong enough pace at Leopardstown for that to be a real test of stamina, but I am still positive about him.

There’s no clear front-runner in the race, bar one, and my mate Dave has been banging on about Ahoy Senor for this, but I’m not convinced. He hasn’t run over hurdles since he beat Bravemansgame at Aintree many moons ago in 2021. He seems to have lost his confidence over fences, but at 40/1, you can still throw a few bob at him as a saver at this stage.

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Another horse who’s also at a big price that I would maybe throw a couple of bob at is Flooring Porter. I know trainer Gavin Cromwell has confirmed that he will run in the National Hunt Chase, but that is not to say that he won’t run in the Stayers’. As a general rule, he won’t have withdrawn him from the Stayers’ Hurdle, and if he is left in then there is a good chance he will run.

If the race still looks wide open at the next confirmation stage, Gavin might leave him in this and have second thoughts about running him in the National Hunt Chase, as this could be a weak enough race for him to have a chance. So, at 50/1, I would keep an eye on him as a wild stab in the dark.