“Paul Nicholls” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Carine06
No trainer has had more Stayers' Hurdle success at the Cheltenham Festival than Paul Nicholls.
While his four previous wins came with the same horse, the mighty Big Buck's, he is launching what some media outlets have described as an audacious bid at the race with McFabulous this season.
This six-year-old was an impressive three-length winner of the Grade 2 Persian War Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow on the card which serves as the traditional beginning to the National Hunt season proper. A crack at open company stepping up in trip is the next target for this inmate of Nicholls' Ditcheat stables.
The West Yorkshire Hurdle on Charlie Hall Chase day at Wetherby on 31 October is expected to come too soon for McFabulous, so another 3m Grade 2 contest – the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury on 27 November – could be his next run.
It is not unkind to describe the staying hurdle division as lacking any strength-in-depth. The fact that last season's Stayers' Hurdle saw the market principals fail to justify their odds with three outsiders finishing in the frame is evidence of that.
When you consider that ante-post favourite Paisley Park has to bounce back from a disappointing defence of his crown at Cheltenham in March, should an unexposed type like McFabulous be twice the odds in the 888sport horse racing betting on the race at 14/1? He does have to prove his stamina but, with a bumper background, it was always likely this Milan gelding would want further than 2m.
After Newbury's Winter Carnival, there is a clear and obvious programme for staying hurdlers. The Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot follows just before Christmas and, if Nicholls wants to get more Cheltenham experience into McFabulous, there is the Cleeve Hurdle on Festival Trials Day in January.
Some of the horses quoted in the ante-post market for the Stayers' Hurdle may have other Cheltenham targets. Leading Irish contender Benie Des Dieux has contested the Mares' Hurdle over 2m 4f in each of the last three seasons, but trainer Willie Mullins has hinted the inaugural Mares' Chase could be the route she goes down this term.
Thyme Hill from the Philip Hobbs stable, who won the Persian War before McFabulous, appears to be his main British rival but only came fourth in the Albert Bartlett. That run was below market expectations, so more is needed now that he's no longer a novice.
Lisnagar Oscar sprung a 50/1 shock when capturing the Stayers' Hurdle for Rebecca Curtis at the Festival in March. Repeating that fine run in any early season events in the division will be difficult because such success comes with a Grade 1 penalty.
Although two-time course and distance handicap winner Sire Du Berlais for powerful Irish connections in trainer Gordon Elliott and owner JP McManus is respected at 16/1, there isn't actually a huge amount of opposition for McFabulous. If this horse can prove he stays the trip, then Nicholls has a good chance of adding a belated and record-extending fifth Stayers' Hurdle to his CV.
“Can McFabulous follow in the hoofprints of Big Buck's” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Carine06
