The Champion Hurdle

Phillip Carberry and Sublimity jump the last hurdle before winning the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy 2007 (Getty Images)

The Champion Hurdle is one of the most coveted and fiercely contested hurdle races in national hunt racing.

The Champion Hurdle is an old race with a rich Cheltenham Festival heritage stretching back to 1927 when Blaris won the first ever race, ridden by George Duller. The race is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race and is run on the Old Course at Prestbury Park.

Entry to the Champion Hurdle is restricted to four-year-old and above horses that are required to jump eight hurdles during the 2 mile, 11 yard race.

Champion Hurdle Betting & Trends

Age: Last five winners aged between 5 and 8. 8-year-olds the dominant age group with 2 wins in this period.
Odds: Winners of the last five races priced between 7/4 and 22/1. A favourite last won the Champion Hurdle in 2006.
Jockey: Top jockeys have a good record in this race, but none has managed to repeat a win in the past five years.
Trainer: Smaller stables have had some success in the Champion Hurdle, but no trainer has won the race more than once since Aidan O'Brien's run of victories with Istabraq between '98 and 2000.
Champion Hurdle Tip: This race tends to produce a good short-priced antepost favourite that will rarely go on to win. This means there's good value and low liability to be had for lay bettors looking to lay the favourite at betting exchanges.

Read the Gambling Guru 2010 Champion Hurdle Race Preview Here

Champion Hurdle Winners

A number of fine racehorses have made their mark on National Hunt racing in this key Cheltenham Festival race. The most successful racehorse in the history of the event is Istabraq who won the race on three occasions, and also lays claim to the fastest-ever time in the race at 3 minutes, 48 seconds.

A Champion Hurdle win is also a significant achievement for any top National Hunt jockey and Tim Molony is the most successful jockey in the history of the event with four Champion Hurdle wins in the 1950s. Other notable Champion Hurdle winners include Charlie Swan who rode Istabraq to his three consecutive wins in the event.

The trainer credited with the most Champion Hurdle winners is Peter Easterby who racked up five wins over three decades. The Champion Hurdle is one of the Cheltenham Festival races that has been dominated by the Irish horse racing fraternity for much of its history, with wins by the likes of Richard Johnson the exception rather than the norm.

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