Supreme Novices Hurdle

A two mile race for novice hurdlers which often produces winners who continue to shine at the festival in future years.

The opening race of the Festival. Here we highlight the essential trends you should be aware of when making your selections for the Supreme Novices hurdle.

To see key trends for any of the other Cheltenham races, click the menu links on the left.

Back Tetlami each-way with SkyBet who are offering 1,2,3,4,5 places on the Supreme Novices Hurdle

Supreme Novices Hurdle Trends

10/10	had won at least 50% of their hurdle starts
9/10	had run within the last 45 days
8/10	won last time out
8/10	were aged five or six
6/10	were trained in Ireland

Supreme Novices Hurdle Trends Analysis

The Supreme Novices is a great race to get involved in from an ante-post perspective and with the exception of Ebaziyan in 2007 shocks have been fairly rare recently in this race.

Concentrate on five and six-year-olds as they have won all bar six of the renewals of this event since 1972! The only recent exceptions to the age trend have both been owned by JP McManus so if your fancy is seven or older but owned by JP it might still have a chance.

Supreme Novices Hurdle Last Ten Winners

Table below shows the last ten winners of the race, their age at the time of winning, trainer, jockey and odds (starting price).

Year	Horse	Age	Trainer	Jockey	Price
2011	Al Ferof	5yo	P Nicholls	R Walsh	10/1
2010	Menorah	5yo	P Hobbs	R Johnson	12/1
2009	Go Native	6yo	N Meade	P Carberry	12/1
2008	Captain Cee Bee	7yo	E Harty	R Thornton	17/2
2007	Ebaziyan	6yo	W Mullins	D Condon	40/1
2006	Noland	5yo	P Nicholls	R Walsh	6/1
2005	Arcalis	5yo	J H Johnson	G Lee	20/1
2004	Brave Inca	6yo	C Murphy	B Cash	7/2F
2003	Back In Front	6yo	E OGrady	N Williamson	3/1F
2002	Like A Butterfly	8yo	C Roche	C Swan	7/4F

Supreme Novices Preview

This race has been one of the highlights of the Festival for Irish horses in the last decade, so it could pay to focus any ante-post selection on the outcome of the main Irish novice hurdle trials: the Paddy Power Future Champion Novice, The Deloitte and The Royal Bond.

Supreme Novices Tip

In a hot race to open the Festival, Nicky Henderson’s Tetlami is taken to get things off to a great start.

The winner of all his races this season he has impressed with the speed and accuracy of his jumping and particularly with his acceleration when going to win his races. Big race jockey Barry Geraghty is convinced two miles on good ground is right for this horse and that he will be even better coming off a faster pace than he has had in his races so far this year.

The six-year-old gelding has a really solid each-way chance and appears overpriced by the bookies in the face of some flashier opponents who appear to have far more to prove than Tetlami.

Back Tetlami each-way with SkyBet who are offering 1,2,3,4,5 places on the Supreme Novices Hurdle