Champion Hurdle

A two mile sprint race for the fastest hurdlers in national hunt racing. An ability to travel well at speed and jump without losing momentum is crucial.

Champion Hurdle Ten Year Trends

10/10	had final prep run within 51 days of Festival
9/10	had previously finished at least fourth at the Cheltenham Festival with six out of ten previous winners at the Festival
9/10	had won at least one race that season
9/10	were aged six to nine
9/10	had between ten and twenty-five runs over hurdles
9/10	had won a Grade 1 hurdle or a Grade 3 handicap hurdle
8/10	had won last time out

Champion Hurdle Trends Analysis

From the above trends the two that stand out are the need for a relatively recent prep race and the age of the winner to be six to nine.

If we look at the age requirement first the above trend can be cut back even further if we are radical with five and nine-year-olds.

One of the most well known stats in NH racing was the poor performance of five-year-olds in the Champion Hurdle until Katchit made a hole in that statistic in 2008 but even with his victory horses of that age are still one win from EIGHTY-EIGHT attempts since the previous five-year-old winner See You Then in 1985.

Similarly there have only been three horses older than eight-years-old that have won the Champion Hurdle since 1951. Rooster Booster was the last of these and he probably was a late maturing horse which is fairly unusual these days for a top class hurdler.

Champion Hurdle Last Ten Winners

Year	Horse	Age	Trainer	Jockey	Price
2011	Hurricane Fly	7yo	W Mullins	R Walsh	11/4F
2010	Binocular	6yo	N Henderson	AP McCoy	9/1
2009	Punjabi	6yo	N Henderson	B Geraghty	22/1
2008	Katchit	5yo	A King	R Thornton	10/1
2007	Sublimity	7yo	J Carr	P Carberry	16/1
2006	Brave Inca	8yo	C Murphy	AP McCoy	7/4F
2005	Hardy Eustace	8yo	D Hughes	C O'Dwyer	7/1F
2004	Hardy Eustace	7yo	D Hughes	C O'Dwyer	33/1
2003	Rooster Booster	9yo	P Hobbs	R Johnson	9/2
2002	Hors La Loi III	7yo	J Fanshawe	D Gallagher	10/1

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

Champion Hurdle Preview and Tips 2012

We would normally be looking for a horse aged six to eight and, until last year's winner Hurricane Fly, one with top class previous Festival form. Having previous Festival form had been one of the most powerful trends for the Champion Hurdle but Hurricane Fly went right against that trend in 2011 when winning on his course debut.

It could be that Hurricane Fly is the exception rather than the rule here and positive previous Festival form still looks to be a major positive.

Times could be changing in the Champion Hurdle. Since 2007 all of the winners are horses with plenty of experience of running on the flat and all with decent official ratings on the level.
Katchit was rated 83 on the flat but the other four winners were all rated between 92 and 108 so perhaps we should be on the lookout for with decent flat speed when looking for a Champion Hurdler?

Hurricane Fly gave the impression last season of a horse who can dominate this race if he can manage to stay sound. He looks by far the most likely winner if he can make it to the race in one piece in March.