Cheltenham 2010 – Champion Hurdle

The Champion Hurdle is the big race of the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival and the race of the meeting for some horse racing fans. Four horses have managed to win the Champion Hurdle three times over the years and horses that manage to run well two years in succession are not uncommon.

A fast pace is always assured meaning any Cheltenham Champion Hurdle winner needs to be able to jump hurdles well at speed.

As far as the trends are concerned, one of the strongest statistics of any at the Festival is the shocking performance of five year olds in this event. Only one five year old has been successful from eighty attempts, that horse being the Alan King trained Katchit in 2008.

Champion Hurdle Details

Trip: 2 Miles

Hurdles: 8

Class: Grade 1

First Run: 1927

Next running: Tuesday 16th March 2010

Champion Hurdle Trends

Only one winning five year old since 1985.

Only two winners aged over eight years old in the last two decades.

22 of the last 26 Champion Hurdle winners had won on their previous outing.

14 of the last 18 Champion Hurdle winners had finished first or second at the Cheltenham Festival previously.

9 of the last 10 winners had won at least a race that season.

2010 Champion Hurdle Betting

2010 Champion Hurdle

Zaynar is at the head of the market for the 2010 Champion Hurdle but if Nicky Henderson’s runner is going to be successful, he will need to overcome the strong five year old trend. His performances in the run up to the Festival and the fact he won the Triumph Hurdle in impressive fashion at the 2009 meeting, suggest Zaynar may be able to do just that.

There is a very strong Irish contingent this year with both Solwhit and Go Native sitting just behind Zaynar at the head of the Ante Post market. Solwhit was expected to provide the biggest threat from Ireland but Go Native’s victory in the Fighting Fifth followed by his victory in the Christmas Hurdle means Davy Condon’s runner has now arguably taken up that mantle.

The most interesting contender for me currently is the Nigel Twiston Davies trained Khyber Kim. This 7 year old has always threatened to be special but never quite hit the heights he looked capable of achieving. Twiston Davies and jockey Paddy Brennan seem to have discovered the secret to getting the best from Khyber Kim and he now looks a serious Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle contender.

Back Khyber Kim at 10/1 with Betfred and get a £50 free bet.

Tags: 2010 champion hurdle, 2010 cheltenham festival, champion hurdle trends

This entry was posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Cheltenham Festival 2010, Cheltenham Festival News, Horse Racing Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.