Ma Shantou set to shine in Stayers'

CHELTENHAM 2026 – DAY THREE

- By CHRIS WRIGHT

Pertemps Network Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham Racecourse in January - he can win again at Prestbury Park in the third-day feature, the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle

(ALAN CROWHURST/GETTY IMAGES)

MA SHANTOU can secure victory in the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle (GBB Race) (3.20pm) on the third day of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.

Emma Lavelle's seven-year-old can land the Grade One feature on day three and make it three wins from four starts at Prestbury Park. Similar to the stable’s 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle hero Paisley Park, Ma Shantou arrives at the Festival having gone from handicapper to Graded winner.

And he can take the next step up the ladder with a first victory at the top level.

The gelded son of Shantou was seventh in the Grade One Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last March, showing how highly Lavelle regards him that he was pitched into top company on the back of a couple of successes over obstacles.

This season he has taken that form to a new level with three wins from four starts with his only defeat when a disappointing 12th in the Betfair Stayers’ Handicap Hurdle at Haydock Park in November.

Ma Shantou had already won the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham the previous month and went on to win two more times at Prestbury Park on New Year's Day and then running out a fine winner on Festival Trials Day at the end of January.