Cheltenham Festival 2026: Home By The Lee digs deep for Stayers’ Hurdle success

Stamina came to the fore as Home By The Lee made it fifth-time-lucky in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.

In a fascinating contest, J J Slevin aboard the 11-year-old urgently asked his mount to move on to Hewick’s tail moving down hill, but as he rounded the turn for home, the pursuers were queuing up to make their challenge, with Home By The Lee already giving maximum effort.

The eye was drawn in particular to Dan Skelton’s Kabral Du Mathan under a motionless Harry Skelton as he hit the front, jumping the final obstacle.

However, Home By The Lee was a determined rival, and as Kabral du Mathran’s stride shortened, the 33-1 shot rallied bravely to see off the fast-finishing Ballyburn by a length and a quarter.

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Fantastic ride

O’Brien said: “What a horse, he’s never taken a lame step in his life.

“We came here just hoping for a good run and it was a fantastic ride from J J.

“It’s great for Sean O’Driscoll (owner) and his family, they bred him and he’s an 11-year-old now, they’ve been with him all the way through thick and thin.

“He’s tough as nails, it’s a huge team effort from everyone at home and like I said, he got a great ride off J J.

“We’ve raced him more often this year than what we normally have, we said we’d just get him running, whereas in the past we’ve just kept him very fresh, so maybe that helped him.”

Special

O’Brien is a former champion Flat jockey in Ireland, who has already won the Melbourne Cup on the Flat and the King George over jumps.

He went on: “The Cheltenham Festival is special, it’s just great to be here with good horses that can run well and have chances – to have a winner makes it even more special.

“He loves his job, that’s how we keep him sweet.

“When he went novice chasing, he lost his way a little bit and had a few disappointing runs; he’d got a little bit bored, and I said to Sean it was probably time for him to have a change of scenery.

“Thankfully, Sean said he was happy to stick with me.

“We changed a few things at home, but to think he could win the Stayers’ Hurdle at the fifth attempt was probably a stretch, but he’s been a superstar for all of us in the yard.”

READ MORE: Cheltenham Festival 2026: Stayers’ Hurdle race analysis and preview