Could a Pair of Stratford Winners Be Set for Huge Chasing Seasons in 2026/27?

With meetings held from March to October, there’s always a chance you’ll see the stars of tomorrow at Stratford Racecourse.

Some racegoers may well have been trackside when Salsify, the winner of the Foxhunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2012 and 2013, came to Stratford Racecourse the following June and landed another foxhunter victory.

It looked as though lightning might strike twice in March, when It’s On the Line – a former Stratford competitor – was sent off as the favourite for the Hunters’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

It wasn’t to be on the day, but It’s On the Line and a former Stratford winner, Taurus Bay, can both look to strong 2026/27 campaigns… with festival glory in mind.

Lining up

Once the core National Hunt season is up and running in the autumn, the ante-post horse racing betting odds – which allow punters to potentially lock in some early value for the major races – will be published.

Such is the unique nature of the hunters’ chase division that It’s On the Line, if remaining fit and in form, will almost certainly run in two key dates over timber at the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals.

And, of course, in the meantime, there’s the Stratford Foxhunters’ Chase – the iconic renewal won by Salsify that’s held in May each year at the racecourse.

After winning the champion hunters’ chase at Punchestown in 2025, It’s On the Line – whose owner J.P. McManus had the 1-2 at the Grand National in April – established himself as one of the premier exponents of the discipline in the UK and Ireland.

That was a far cry from his trip to Stratford in May 2022 for the Foxhunters’ Chase, where he found the pace too strong in fast conditions.

The bookmakers’ favourite for the Cheltenham Hunters’ Chase, It’s On the Line was beaten by a neck by Barton Snow, who then franked his domination of the division by winning at Aintree in April – on the bridle, no less, and around 20 lengths clear of his fellow Irish raider. Barton Snow is no stranger to Stratford regulars either, winning of last May's John Corbett Cup, the championship for novice hunter chasers. He was joined at that fixture by another Aintree Foxhunter winner in Famous Clermont, who won another race on the all Hunters' card.

Even so, that was a strong spring campaign from a horse that would probably favour a bit of cut in the ground, so if England experiences a wet winter – almost an inevitability, it seems! – then look out for this former Stratford Racecourse participant in the next set of hunters’ chase fixtures.

The Chase

Taurus Bay enjoyed a fine novice hurdling campaign in 2025/26.

He made his debut under Rules at Stratford in October, winning our Charlie Longsdon Racing Novices Hurdle by more than eight lengths.

Taurus Bay, trained by Ben Pauling and owned by former football manager turned I’m a Celeb contestant Harry Redknapp, was then pointed at another valuable novice hurdle race at Aintree – beating odds-on favourite Captain Hugo into the bargain.

A narrow defeat in a Grade 2 outing at Cheltenham in January was followed by the Cheltenham Festival itself two months later, with Taurus Bay leading the Grade I Turners Novices' Hurdle with three obstacles to jump before weakening towards the end of the race.

Pauling will likely send Taurus Bay chasing next term. And given his own upward trajectory in the sport, as well as Redknapp’s increasing success as an owner, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the five-year-old contest the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the meeting.

That would be another former Stratford Racecourse winner that heads to the biggest meeting in National Hunt racing.