The feature race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival is the Champion Hurdle, and arguably the second biggest race of the entire meeting.
A two-mile test over hurdles, this is a race that needs speed, slick jumping, and something in reserve for the Cheltenham hill at the finish. It’s a race that has produced some superstar winners over the years, and the day one race everyone wants to win.
It’s the first Championship race of the Cheltenham Festival, a Grade One contest, and worth over £262,000 to the winner.
Race Facts
The left-handed race is open to horses of four years and older and is run over 3,319 metres, which is roughly two miles and 87 yards.
It includes eight hurdles and is run entirely on the Old Course at Cheltenham. Weight-wise it is for horses of eleven stone if they’re four years old, or eleven stone ten pounds for five year olds and upwards. There’s an allowance of seven pounds for both fillies and mares.
When the race won run for the first time back in 1927 the winner received £365. It goes without saying that that has increased over the years.
You will notice that since 2000 over half of the races have been won by the favourite. Indeed, the 2023 winner Constitution Hill (4/11) was the shortest price winner in its history since 1927 and in 2024 State Man wasn’t far behind (2/5). Then again both of those fell in 2025 and Golden Ace win at 25/1 so it isn’t always predetermined.
Records For Most Wins
| Record Type | No of Wins | Record Holder |
|---|---|---|
| Horse | 3 | Multiple (5) |
| Trainer | 9 | Nicky Henderson |
| Jockey | 4 | Tim Molony, Ruby Walsh & Barry Geraghty |
Race Trends: Winners Since 2000
Previous Winners
| Year | Winner | Age | Odds | Prize | Jockey / Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Lossiemouth | 7 | 7/5 F | £262,077.52 |
J: P Townend
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2025 | Golden Ace | 7 | 25/1 | £253,215 |
J: Lorcan Williams
T: Jeremy Scott
|
| 2024 | State Man | 7 | 2/5 F | £262,078 |
J: P Townend
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2023 | Constitution Hill | 6 | 4/11 F | £253,215 |
J: N de Boinville
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2022 | Honeysuckle | 8 | 8/11 F | £253,215 |
J: Rachael Blackmore
T: H De Bromhead
|
| 2021 | Honeysuckle | 7 | 11/10 F | £189,911 |
J: Rachael Blackmore
T: H De Bromhead
|
| 2020 | Epatante | 6 | 2/1 F | £264,609.67 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2019 | Espoir D'Allen | 5 | 16/1 | £253,433.58 |
J: M P Walsh
T: G P Cromwell
|
| 2018 | Buveur D'Air | 7 | 4/6 F | £266,383.62 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2017 | Buveur D'Air | 6 | 5/1 | £227,800 |
J: Noel Fehily
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2016 | Annie Power | 8 | 5/2 F | £248,302 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2015 | Faugheen | 7 | 4/5 F | £227,800 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2014 | Jezki | 6 | 9/1 | £238,051 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: Mrs John Harrington
|
| 2013 | Hurricane Fly | 9 | 13/8 F | £227,800 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2012 | Rock on Ruby | 7 | 11/1 | £210,715 |
J: Noel Fehily
T: P F Nicholls
|
| 2011 | Hurricane Fly | 7 | 11/4 F | £210,937 |
J: Ruby Walsh
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2010 | Binocular | 6 | 9/1 | £210,937 |
J: A P McCoy
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2009 | Punjabi | 6 | 22/1 | £210,937 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2008 | Katchit | 5 | 10/1 | £205,272 |
J: Robert Thornton
T: A King
|
| 2007 | Sublimity | 7 | 16/1 | £205,272 |
J: Paul Carberry
T: John G Carr
|
| 2006 | Brave Inca | 8 | 7/4 F | £202,683.30 |
J: A P McCoy
T: Colm Murphy
|
| 2005 | Hardy Eustace | 8 | 7/2 J | £174,000 |
J: Conor O'Dwyer
T: D T Hughes
|
| 2004 | Hardy Eustace | 7 | 33/1 | £174,000 |
J: Conor O'Dwyer
T: D T Hughes
|
| 2003 | Rooster Booster | 9 | 9/2 | £174,000 |
J: Richard Johnson
T: Philip Hobbs
|
| 2002 | Hors La Loi III | 7 | 10/1 | £156,600 |
J: D Gallagher
T: James Fanshawe
|
| 2000 | Istabraq | 8 | 8/15 F | £145,000 |
J: Charlie Swan
T: A P O'Brien
|
Race Trivia
Prestige Earned Over Time
It might be fair to say that the race has not always been considered to be the prestigious event that it is today. When it was run in 1932 there were just three horses running in it, the smallest field that has ever run the Champion Hurdle
Stewards Overruled in 1964
The running of the 1964 race is notable for the degree of controversy that surrounds it. Race stewards actually objected to the winner of the Champion Hurdle, Magic Court, but their objections were overruled by the race organisers and the result stood
In 2001 It Was Held At Sandown
As with most of the other big races from the Festival, the Champion Hurdle was run in a different format at Sandown in 2001 when the meeting was cancelled due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak. It doesn’t officially count as a Champion Hurdle win, however, so the horse that came home first, Landing Light, can’t be considered to have won the race
Four Year Olds
The race has been won by a horse of four years of age on five occasions. If you’re a real fan of trivia then you’ll be interested to know that the first two four-year-olds to win it both had ‘Brown’ in their name: Brown Jack in 1928 and Brown Tony in 1930. The last horse that young to win the Champion Hurdle was Forestation in 1942
Oldest Is 11
The oldest a horse has been when its won the race is eleven. That was how old Hatton’s Grace was when he won it for the third time in 1951 and it was also the age of the 1981 winner, Sea Pigeon
50/1 Double
Two horses have been valued at 50/1 before they came under starters orders and then gone on to win it – firstly Kirriemuir in 1965 and then Beech Road in 1989. That is the longest odds of any horse to win the Champion Hurdle, with the next longest being For Auction who was 40/1 when winning it in 198.
Rachael Blackmore Becomes First Female Winner, Twice
Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the premier hurdle race of the year in 2021 when she rode favourite Honeysuckle home. She rode her first two Festival winners in 2019 in the Novices’ Handicap Chase and Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle and then won the Mares’ Hurdle with Honeysuckle the year after in 2020. The Irish jockey then made history to take the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle the year after on the same horse. Not satisfied with that she then rode Honeysuckle home in 2022 to claim back-to-back wins, a legendary horse and jockey combination.
Constitution Hill Shortest Price Winner At 4/11
The Champion Hurdle has one of the highest percentages of favourites to win the race, therefore it is no unusual to see a short priced winner. When Constitution Hill won in 2023, and did he win by 9 lengths, he became the shortest priced horse to ever win the race since 1927 at a price of just 4/11. It was hardly unexpected either following his domination of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2022.
Paul Townend Wins At 10th Time Of Asking
Paul Townend must have been a bit worried taking 2/5 odds on State Man into the Champion Hurdle for Willie Mullins in 2024. Despite riding this race 9 times before he had never won it, although had finished in the places most times. Fortunately it was 10th time lucky for Willie’s leading stable jockey.
Lossiemouth Queen Of Cheltenham
Townend followed that up with a second win in 2026 this time on Lossiemouth, again for Mullins of course. In the process Lossiemouth won her fourth race in four years at the Festival, an impressive feat for a seven the year old who could yet win more Champion Hurdles. Lossiemouth was the 2024 and 2025 winner of the Mares’ Hurdle and the 2023 Triumph Hurdle winner.
A Race Where Favourites Dominate
The best of the best take each other on in the Champion Hurdle, and in horse racing, anything can happen. But in this particular race, recent records show that it’s often the cream of the crop that rise up and take this crown.
Favourites have an exceptional record in the race over recent years, and while some have failed, market leaders often live up to their billing and deliver on the biggest day.
Over the last 10 years, this race has been won seven times by the favourite, including five times in a row from 2020 to 2024. Adding a few more years on, 11 of the 16 races between 2011 and 2026 were won by the favourite.
Over this same period, six of those 11 favourites to win were sent off odds-on by punters. In 2023, Constitution Hill was one of the odds-on winners, and in winning the race at odds of 4/11, became the shortest-priced winner of the Champion Hurdle ever.
Champion Hurdle Greats
Some of the greatest names in horse racing have won the Champion Hurdle, and many of them have managed to land this prize on more than one occasion.
Going back to a time just after the War, racing was getting back on its feet, and two stars competed in the Champion Hurdle to bring the race to life. The first, Hatton’s Grace, would become the first horse to win this race three times. In each of those, he beat a horse named Sir Ken, who wouldn’t go down without a fight, and after picking up those losses, would become the second horse to win the race three times.
Dawn Run was another big-name Champion Hurdle winner, the second-ever mare to win the race. She completed a famous, and now unheard-of, double in racing, winning both the Champion Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Persian War, See You Then, and Istabraq would all write their name into the history books of this race, all winning it three times to become greats of the game.
In modern history, the likes of Hardy Eustace, Hurricane Fly and Buveur D’Air have put up some incredible performances in this contest.
The way this race is set up and what it demands of horses means we often see the same runners return time and time again.
The speed needed and slick jumping mean that stepping up in trip or going over fences is not possible for most Champion Hurdle horses. I think this only adds to the contest and gives fans plenty of runners to really get behind and grow close to.
Supreme Novice Hurdle Points to Champion Hurdle Contenders of the Future
On the same day of racing, the first race on the card is the Supreme Novice Hurdle, run over the same course and distance as the Champion Hurdle.
Using the old course, which runs on the same day, it’s the perfect stepping stone for the future, and many horses will run in the Supreme and then stay over hurdles the following season, in a bid to run in the Champion Hurdle.
As much as the Cheltenham Festival is all about the day itself, it’s a great meeting for picking out future horses to follow, and many of them turn into stars. If you want to find future Champion Hurdle horses, the Supreme is the place to look.