Often considered to be the feature race on Day One of Cheltenham, and one of the best hurdle races in the racing calendar, the Champion Hurdle - also known as the ‘Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy (Grade 1) (GBB Race) - is a real highlight of the Festival.
Here, the experts at TWE have detailed the race card in full and have given some useful extra information, covering some top Champion Hurdle tips, to recent Champion Hurdle winners and other key features of the race itself.
This is a full list of entries for the Champion Hurdle for this year's Cheltenham Festival. However, there are further declarations five days before the race, and then final declarations 48 hours before, so the lists may change.
Searching for all the latest Champion Hurdle tips? Then don’t worry as we have you covered. We’ll provide all the latest tips below as soon as we have them. Remember you can also get even more tips for the Festival on our wider Cheltenham tips page here.
You can also see all the latest odds for this race and learn which bookmakers are offering the best price on each horse in the race on our Champion Hurdle odds page.
In addition to these useful Champion Hurdle tips, if you’re looking for more of our thoughts on who you should back in the race, take a look at our other Day One Cheltenham tips page to find out more and inform your bets.
You can also see all the latest odds for this race and learn which bookmakers are offering the best price on each horse in the race on our Champion Hurdle odds page.
The Champion Hurdle is the fourth race on Day One of the Festival - which is also known as ‘Champion Day’. It is the third of four Grade 1 contests on the day and is open to horses aged four years and over.
The National Hunt race is run over two miles and half a furlong and there are eight hurdles for the runners to negotiate. As we’ve mentioned earlier, the race is considered to be the feature race for Day One and that is shown in the prize money, with a pot of £450,000 available and over £250,000 going to the winner.
The race was simply known as the ‘Champion Hurdle’ when it started in 1927 and only first had sponsorship in 1978 from Waterford Crystal. The first race was won by a horse called Blaris and the prize back then was £365. Historically the race has always been held on a Tuesday, but throughout the majority of the 1960s and 70s, this was switched to Wednesdays, before moving back to Tuesdays in 1980.
Smurfit was the next sponsor to support the race in 1991, and this remained until bookmaker Stan James took over from 2010 to 2017. They were then replaced by parent company Unibet, who still have the rights to the race today.
If you want to know who the Champion Hurdle winners are, the following table has all the most recent records:
| Year | Winner | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Constitution Hill | Nico de Boinville | Nicky Henderson |
| 2022 | Honeysuckle | Rachael Blackmore | Henry de Bromhead |
| 2021 | Honeysuckle | Rachael Blackmore | Henry de Bromhead |
| 2020 | Epatante | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson |
| 2019 | Espoir D'Allen | Mark Walsh | Gavin Cromwell (Ire) |
| 2018 | Buveur D'Air | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson |
| 2017 | Buveur D'Air | Noel Fehily | Nicky Henderson |
| 2016 | Annie Power | Ruby Walsh | Willie Mullins (Ire) |
| 2015 | Faugheen | Ruby Walsh | Willie Mullins (Ire) |
| 2014 | Jezki | Barry Geraghty | Jessica Harrington (Ire) |
Nicky Henderson is also the most successful trainer for the Champion Hurdle in terms of winners. He has the record for nine wins with: See You Then (1985, 1986, 1987), Punjabi (2009), Binocular (2010), Buveur D'Air (2017, 2018), Epatante (2020), Constitution Hill (2023).
It’s currently a tie at four wins each between three jockeys, they are Tim Molony, Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty. The latter was the most recent winner in 2020 riding Epatante.
If you’re looking for our thoughts on who you should back in the Champion Hurdle take a look at our Day 1 Tips page to see everything, we’re backing for this race at the Cheltenham Festival.
You can also see all the latest odds for this race on our Champion Hurdle Odds page allowing you to see which bookmakers are offering the best price on each horse in the race.
