Stumptown The 2026 Glenfarclas Chase Favourite As He Aims For Back-To-Back Wins
The 2026 Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase is shaping up as one of Wednesday’s most intriguing betting puzzles at the Cheltenham Festival, with defending champion Stumptown heading a deep 23-strong entry for a race limited to 16 runners on the day.
Run over 3m5½f on the unique cross‑country track, it again looks like being a specialist’s contest where course form, stamina, and jumping over varied obstacles are vital, and where the market has already latched on to a handful of proven cross‑country performers.
The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase has become a fixture of the Wednesday card and now sits as a cornerstone of Cheltenham’s staying chase programme.
The race is the culmination of a three‑race cross‑country series at the track, with trials in November and December allowing trainers to school their specialists round the banks, hedges, rails, and timber that make this contest so idiosyncratic.
With 23 horses entered for a maximum field of 16, racing fans have to second‑guess running plans and the weather, but there is already a clear shape to the market.
Stumptown, last year’s winner and again set to shoulder top weight of 11st 10lb, is a warm favourite after a sequence of cross‑country successes at Cheltenham and Punchestown, while Desertmore House, Favori De Champdou and The Goffer are prominent among a clutch of Irish challengers.
Previous Festival hero Vanillier, high‑class chaser Conflated, and French raider Karre D’As add depth and quality, underlining how attractive this race has become for connections targeting a mix of Festival glory and potential Grand National preparation.
Stumptown and the Cromwell Factor
Stumptown arrives at this year’s Festival as the established cross‑country star and defending Glenfarclas champion, having run out a clear seven‑length winner in 2025 when defying top weight as 5/2 favourite.
That victory capped a remarkable transformation after connections switched him to this niche discipline.
Last season, he had already captured the Glenfarclas Crystal Cup Handicap over the course in December and completed a hat‑trick of cross‑country wins spanning Cheltenham and Punchestown.
His new role over banks and hedges has brought what Cromwell has described as a “new lease of life”, with the gelding’s stamina and accurate, economical jumping making him ideally suited to this marathon test.
And his win in the Velka Pardubicka in October has only reinforced this.
Cromwell himself has quietly built a formidable Cheltenham record in recent seasons, posting a strike‑rate of around 30 per cent at the track and finishing only behind Willie Mullins in the trainers’ standings during one recent campaign.
Last year’s Glenfarclas success effectively booked Stumptown a ticket to the Grand National, however he was badly hampered at the 3rd, and again by a faller at the 21st before pulling up three out. He hasn’t been entered in 2026.
Rivals and Trends: Who Fits the Profile?
Stats and trends for the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase strongly point punters towards horses with prior experience of the course, proven stamina, and, increasingly, a touch of class at Grade 1 or Grade 2 level.
Thirteen of the last seventeen winners had been placed over the cross‑country course before landing this race, with Tiger Roll, Delta Work, and others using previous trials or Festival runs as the ideal primer.
Multiple winners like Garde Champetre, Balthazar King, and Tiger Roll underline how specialists can dominate once they find their rhythm around Cheltenham’s banks course.
Against that backdrop, several of the 2026 entries look tailor‑made to give Stumptown a race:
Favori De Champdou (Gordon Elliott)
Already a course‑and‑distance winner, he arrives on the back of two cross‑country successes and has the hallmark Elliott profile for this event.
Elliott has an outstanding record in the race thanks to Delta Work and Tiger Roll, and this tough stayer looks a logical primary challenger from the yard.
Desertmore House (Martin Brassil)
Lightly raced in this sphere but progressive, his form suggests there may still be a bit up his sleeve from a handicap perspective.
Brassil’s patient approach with staying chasers and the horse’s solid Irish chasing background give him the sort of unexposed profile that often goes well in this race.
The Goffer (Gordon Elliott)
Fourth to Stumptown in last year’s renewal, The Goffer has valuable Festival and Aintree experience and continues to run consistently in big handicaps.
His ability to travel strongly and see out the trip makes him a solid each‑way player if he takes his chance again.
Vanillier (Gavin Cromwell)
A former National Hunt Chase winner and Grand National runner‑up (2023), Vanillier brings top‑level staying chase form and has already been placed behind Stumptown in last year’s Glenfarclas.
He may be vulnerable to younger legs, but ticks plenty of trends boxes in terms of Festival pedigree and proven stamina.
French challenger Karre D’As and seasoned campaigners like Conflated and Fakir d’Oudairies add a layer of intrigue, especially if the ground turns testing and emphasis shifts even further towards stamina.
However, the key trend remains course familiarity, which arguably leaves Stumptown, Favori De Champdou, The Goffer and Vanillier as the quartet who most closely match the recent winning template.
The Path to Aintree
The 2026 Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase has evolved from a quirky sideshow into a serious Festival target and an important staging post on the road to the Grand National.
The race’s roll of honour features several horses who either came to Cheltenham as established Aintree players or used a big run here as the springboard to glory over the National fences.
Tiger Roll is the modern benchmark: he won this race in 2018 and 2019 and then added a second Grand National just weeks after his first cross‑country success, becoming the first dual National winner since Red Rum.
He then went on to win again in 2021, as well as finishing second in both 2020 and 2022.
Delta Work, another high‑class Gigginstown chaser, took the 2022 and 2023 renewals and placed in the National, showing how the demands of the Cheltenham banks can mirror what is needed to cope with Aintree’s unique test.
Earlier, Cause Of Causes landed the 2017 Glenfarclas as part of a remarkable Festival treble in staying races before running a huge race to be second in the Grand National, while Balthazar King won this race in 2014 after previous success here and was twice placed at Aintree, underlining the close link between the two events.
In that context, the 2026 Glenfarclas looks more than just a specialist handicap: it is a live Grand National trial and a race that can redefine a staying chaser’s career.
If Stumptown can emulate the likes of Balthazar King and Tiger Roll by adding a second cross‑country success, he will cement his status as the discipline’s current flag‑bearer – though, it won’t be easy!
BETFRED
