Liam Firkin takes on his predicted accumulator wrecker Teahupoo in the Stayers Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Stayers Hurdle
I’ve never been a backer of short-priced favourites, whether that is in my day-to-day punting or from an ante-post perspective.
That strategy isn’t going to change, and although many people will suggest that all these short priced horses are “absolute good things” or heaven forbid, “a banker” I’m too long in the tooth to buy into that nonsense and to those who think that think all of these shorties will go and win at Cheltenham, I would just like to carefully remind them of:
- Mighty Potter @ 4/6
- Shishkin @ Evens
- Galopin Des Champs @ 5/6
- Envoi Allen @ 4/9
- Concertista @ 10/11
- Annie Power @ 1/2
- Un Des Sceaux @ 8/11
- Chacun Pour Soi @ 8/13
- Douvan @ 2/9
- Benie Des Dieux @ 10/11
- Defi Du Seuil @ 2/5
- Paisley Park @ 4/6
- Apples Jade @ 1/2
- Tiger Roll @ 8/11
- El Fabiolo @ 2/9
- Brighterdaysahead @ 4/6
All “good things”. All beat. And that’s just a list from recent years.
I think Teahupoo will join this list in the Stayers Hurdle at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, and he will go down as another horse who was the “accumulator wrecker”.
Therefore, I’m going to take him on with the JP McManus purchase, THE WALLPARK (12/1).
Firstly, I just want to state a case for why we can take on this favourite. This division has been weak for some time and last year’s victory in this race was a solid effort but by no means makes him a world beater.
Home By The Lee is a nice horse, but he’s not an elite level staying hurdler, and it sounds bizarre to crab a two-time Stayers winner, in Flooring Porter, but let’s remember that he was sent chasing all season and reverted back to hurdles. That was far from the most ideal preparation.
Then if we roll back two years. Teahupoo struggled and ultimately, failed to get by horses who were past their peak years and let’s call a spade a spade, they were old and the renewal was poor. Irrespective of how he was campaigned that season, he should have been beating an 11 year old Sire Du Berlais.
You can also throw ground concerns at Teahupoo and should it come up as genuine good-soft then that certainly wouldn’t favour him. We could also dive into the back form, the loss to Lossiemouth this season, and how he is campaigned generally, but you probably get my point.
I think there’s ample reasons to have a go at this 11/10 shot and luckily, with him taking up so much of the market, that leaves plenty of value in behind.
The Wallpark ran a lovely race at Cheltenham at the October meeting and one that can be marked up in my opinion. The Showcase is run on The Old Course, which is notorious for lending itself far more to front running tactics and those that are ridden prominently.
This can be exacerbated by good ground conditions, making those who go forward, far more difficult to peg back and therefore making it difficult to come off the pace, and come to mount a challenge from the back of the field. To back this up, here are the race comments for each of the winners and their general positions in the field, for that October meeting.
Day 1
- Wyenot - “Made All”
- Path D’Oroux - “Pressed Leader”
- Calico - “Prominent”
- Valgrand - “Made All”
- The Newest One - “Pressed Leaders”
- Potters Charm - “In Touch With Leaders”
- Impero - “In Touch With Leaders”
Day 2
- Lisnamult Lad - “Made All”
- Intense Approch - “Made Virtually All”
- Senior Chief - “Prominent”
- The Wallpark - “Held Up In Rear”
- Givemefive - “In Touch With Leaders”
- Hyland - “Prominent”
- Block Rockin Beats - “Prominent”
From 14 winners, only one came from off the pace, The Wallpark. I refer back to my original point about a hold up style on The Old Course, on good ground, not lending itself well to winning races here, and based on how he went about that victory, I think it can be upgraded for the way he won that Pertemps Qualifier.
He beat Gowel Road that day by 2.5 lengths and was giving him 4lbs in weight. Gowel Road has been a model of consistency, and he, himself, went on to win the Cleeve Hurdle on Trials Day.
The Wallpark went on to run in The Long Walk at Ascot and after finding himself too far back when turning from home, he picked up really well and was doing all his best work at the finish. I didn’t mind that run one bit, given that it was his first venture into graded company and his effort was far from disappointing.
JP now has both Jeriko Du Reponet and Win Some Lose Some for The Pertemps Final and I’d be shocked if he’s opened the cheque book, just to run this lad in that handicap final too.
I’m adamant that we’ll see him later on the card, on the Thursday and I think he is a huge player in this race, where he will be coming from off the pace, and this time on the New Course, where it is even more tailored to those tactics and the stamina test of the Cheltenham Hill is exactly what he wants and is what will bring the best out of him.
He’s my idea of the winner and I don’t think we’ve seen anywhere near his full potential. The best is yet to come!
