The Champion Hurdle is the most prestigious race in the hurdling calendar. Open to horses aged 4 years and older and at a distance of 2 miles ½ furlong, it’s a race that many trainers, owners and jockeys want to win. The race takes place on the old course at Cheltenham on the first day of the festival. In recent years it has been a profitable race for punters, with favourites like Annie Power, Faugheen and Hurrican Fly winning the race. 2019 saw relative long shot Espoir D´Allen win the race after crowd favourite Buveur D´Air fell and favourite Apples Jade faded away. With sizeable prize money of over £253,000 for the winner, The Champion Hurdle is the main race of Tuesday’s meeting.

This is the weakest Champion Hurdle’ that I can remember. There aren’t many stand out horses in this year’s renewal. Six of the last twelve winners were in the top 3 of the betting, but that has been in years when there have been much stronger fields.


Epatante

Epatante is a worthy favourite for this race in my opinion. Not because she exudes any sort of class, but more because of the lack of opposition. There was talk of Honeysuckle coming here, but that has since been quashed and she’ll apparently be running in the Mares hurdle later in the day. Looking at the other likely runners, I just can’t see much else in the race that is likely to trouble her. She finishes his races well, with plenty of speed and I can see her pulling away comfortably up the hill. Her run in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle on 26th Dec was impressive, beating 3rd place Ballyandy by 8 ¼ lengths. Given Ballyandy has been within a nose (and beaten once) the second favourite in the market, Pentland Hills, I’d say she is worth backing at the current price of 11/4 NRNB.

Note (04/03/2020). I´ve cooled my opinion on Epetante in the build up to the festival. She was coughing a few days ago and I have a firmer opinion on Darver Star, he is now my main bet. 

  • Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle 26th Dec Watch  
  • Ladbrokes ´Where The Nation Plays´ Intermediate Hurdle - 30th Nov Watch  


Darver Star

I was very impressed with Darver Star’s performance in the Irish Champion Hurdle. Perhaps he was punching above his weight, but the way he battled towards the line to steal 2nd from Petit Mouchoir, showed that he’s got something about him. He’s a bit like Paisley Park, in that he comes with a late charge to try and steal the race. He was only ½ length behind Honeysuckle in The Irish Champion Hurdle and given she’s 7-2 (although unlikely to run here), 20-1 looks like a great EW bet for this race. You’d be comfortably in profit if he places at that price.

  • PCI Irish Champion Hurdle - 1st Feb Watch  
  • baroneracing.com Royal Bond Novice Hurdle - 1st Dec Watch  
  • Ladbrokes Where The Nation Plays Novice Hurdle - 13th Oct Watch  

Cornerstone Lad

worth a mention at a bigger price is Cornerstone Lad. At 33-1 he´s a great EW price, has beaten Buveur D´air this season and will most likely front run.

  1. 30 of the last 36 winners, won their last race
  2. 16 of the last 17 winners finished in the top 3 in their previous race
  3. 9 of the last 13 winners were aged 6 or 7 years old
  4. 23 of the last 35 winners were placed in the first 4 at Cheltenham Festival last year
  5. 5 year old horses are just 2 from 101 ince 1985
  6. 15 of the last 17 winners had raced within the last 7 weeks
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