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With two-time champion Flooring Porter failing to get on the board since last year's Cheltenham Festival, the three-mile division has been shaken up, with a number of new faces emerging into the picture.
The most intriguing of those could well be Nicky Henderson's Marie's Rock, who looks set to step up in distance for the first time.
Seven Barrows' mare is a horse Fitzgerald knows well from his relationship with the trainer, but will she be good enough to take the Stayers' Hurdle crown?...
It would be remiss of us to leave out Flooring Porter as a two-time winner of the Stayers' Hurdle, with him returning for a hat-trick bid. He's been an incredible horse for the Flooring Porter Syndicate and Gavin Cromwell, but I do think he's been the beneficiary of two great Danny Mullins rides in this race.
In 2021, Danny got the fractions spot on in a well-run race, keeping something up his sleeve to get home off a good gallop, and last year, it was a bit different with a slightly more tactical race where Danny poached a lead and got a good breather into him going to two out.
I've seen him before races and he can be a handful just going to the start, but Danny has done well on him, along with Gavin's team at home. He's not easy and can hang left in his races, but Danny gets a fair tune out of him.