Champion Hurdle

by Darren Brett
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.

Rock On Ruby, Winner Champion Hurdle

Rock On Ruby after winning the 2012 Champion Hurdle

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	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
8/10	were aged six to eight

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 eight.

If we look at the age requirement first the above trend can be cut back even further if we are radical with five-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, a negative for the chances of the nine-year-olds in the race, Hurricane Fly and Binocular.

Champion Hurdle Last Ten Winners

Year	Horse	Age	Trainer	Jockey	Price
2013	Hurricane Fly	9yo	W Mullins	R Walsh	13/8F
2012	Rock On Ruby	7yo	P Nicholls	N Fehily	11/1
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

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 2014

It appeared that the times were changing in the Champion Hurdle with the winners from 2007-2011 all having plenty of experience of running on the flat and all with decent official ratings on the level.

Rock On Ruby put a stop to that winning streak when striking a blow for the traditional National Hunt horse who had graduated from Bumpers. However, the second, third, fourth and fifth in last year's Champion Hurdle had all gtaduated from the Flat so it may well prove worthwhile targeting an ex-flat horse for glory in 2014.