The Champion Hurdle, run over 2 miles
and 87 yards on the Old Course, is the feature race on the opening
day of the Cheltenham Festival and, this year, is scheduled for 15.30
on Tuesday, March 12. We’ve taken a detailed look at the winners of
the Champion Hurdle to see if we can identify any recent trends that
may help you to narrow the field.
Age-wise, the last ten winners were all
aged between six and nine years, although four were six-year-olds and
four seven-year-olds. Looking a little further back, the last
five-year-old to win was Katchit in 2008 and before that See You Then
in 1985, while the last ten-year-old to win was Sea Pigeon in 1980.
Unsurprisingly, hurdling experience,
including at the highest level, winning form and fitness are all
paramount to winning the Champion Hurdle. The last ten winners had
made at least five starts over hurdles – including at least one at
Grade One level and at least two in the current season – and had
won at least one of the last three.
Ratings-wise, nine of the last ten
winners held an official handicap rating of 162 or more; the
exception was dual winner Buveur D’Air, who was rated ‘just’
157 at the time of his first victory in 2017, but was rated 169 by
the time of his second victory in 2018.
Four of the last ten winners have been
trained by Nicky Henderson, four have been trained by Willie Mullins
and four have been owned by John Patrick ‘J.P. McManus’.
The only one of the last ten winners to
wear headgear, of any kind, was Jezki, who wore a first-time hood
when winning in 2014.
