Staffordshire Knot bids to continue upward curve in Grade 2 Galmoy Hurdle

Staffordshire Knot will bid to continue his upward curve in Thursday’s Grade 2 Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park.

The seven-year-old heads the market at 9/4 and could be difficult to oppose in a winning mood, seeking a three-timer following two successes before Christmas.

In the colours of Gigginstown House Stud, Staffordshire Knot has proved a revelation this season, seemingly maturing at a rate of knots and beginning to repay some of the €510,000 spent to keep him in Gordon Elliott’s yard after the Andy and Gemma Brown Dispersal Sale two years ago.

Third in the valuable Listed Brown Lad Handicap Hurdle at Naas in November was a promising performance and he built on that with victory in a Pertemps qualifier at Punchestown two weeks later.

The son of Shantou improved again to win the Jim Strang & Sons Kilsheelan (Peugeot) Hurdle at Clonmel in early December, once more thriving on a slow ground stamina test and he could be tailor-made for a contest like the Galmoy.

He has never been devoid of promise, always regarded as one with talent who didn’t show it on the track as often as he should. He was runner-up to Brighterdaysahead in the Grade 1 Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree in spring 2024 but temperament issues and sticky jumping proved his achilles heel.

Elliott described him as a horse you couldn’t trust as far as you could throw him but he looks to have his ducks in a row at this stage of his career and a rating of 147, up 10lbs so far this campaign, is a true reflection of his coming-of-age.

Ability to handle tough conditions will be paramount to chances here and it’ll be right up Staffordshire Knot’s street.

Firing on ALL cylinders 🚀

Staffordshire Knot makes it 2⃣0⃣ winners for the @gelliott_racing team in the last fortnight! pic.twitter.com/gsFYdTXeqy

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) December 2, 2025

Second-favourite is Joseph O’Brien’s Home By The Lee, runner-up in this race in 2022 at odds of 80/1 and he’s going to face a stiff task conceding weight all round.

He recently turned 11 in the new year, not long after finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown where he raced lazily so it’s no surprise to see the blinkers go back on.

On his day he’d certainly be in with a chance here but looks well past his best and is easy to oppose. Eight of the last 12 winners of this race were aged between six and eight.

A spectacular staying hurdler in his prime, two-time Christmas Hurdle winner with placed efforts in the Cheltenham and Punchestown renewals, he may find it tough to rediscover that form.

Rocky’s Diamond is next in the market, the winner of this race 12 months ago before going on to finish fourth in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Connections had opted to go over fences earlier this season, winning on debut at Galway but a resounding defeat at Punchestown in the Grade 2 Florida Pearl Novice Chase saw him go back hurdling.

He was beaten a long way in the Christmas Hurdle after racing too enthusiastically, over 48 lengths and sixth of eight, so he’ll be doing well to bounce back and get himself in the mix here.

The six-year-old, with plenty of time on his side, has appeared slightly regressive recently so Declan Queally will be hoping a first-time visor can spark a revival.

This is probably a stronger renewal than it was last year and he isn’t the most solid proposition.

Gerri Colombe is the pick of Elliott’s stable jockey Jack Kennedy despite Staffordshire Knot, with Danny Gilligan booked for the ride, being the more fancied of the pair.

The ten-year-old made his comeback over Christmas in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown, pulled up before the ninth fence. He had been absent since November 2024 after suffering a stifle injury and this is likely a prep for a tilt at the Aintree Grand National.

A very smart staying chaser not long ago, Gerri Colombe is a five-time Grade 1 winner over fences who was also runner-up to Galopin Des Champs in the 2023 Gold Cup.

Elliott has thrown cheekpieces on here but it must be a concern how poor his effort was at Leopardstown, showing no promise whatsoever and he has to be up against it going forward.

It’s difficult to know what type of a performance he’s capable of putting in here and this is more of a fact finding mission than anything for team Cullentra.

The two mares in the field, Queally’s Mozzies Sister and Henry de Bromhead’s Lantry Lady, both have enormous amounts to find and are likely to play supporting roles.

Mouse Morris’ Franciscan Rock rounds off the seven runners, third behind Rocky’s Diamond last year and he wasn’t disgraced in the Stayers’ Hurdle afterwards when sixth.

He was a good winner of the Clonmel contest that Staffordshire Knot landed in 2024 but is understandably hard to fancy.