Turners Novices’ Hurdle Stats & Trends 2025

Day two of the Cheltenham Festival kicks off with Grade One action for novice hurdlers. The Turners Novices’ Hurdle is the middle distance for first-season hurdlers, and is contested over two miles and five furlongs.

It is run on the Old Course, with ten hurdles jumped. Legendary winners of the race include Faugheen, Istabraq, and Envoi Allen.

Ballyburn lit up Cheltenham with an exemplary performance in the race last year for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend. The trends to follow to find the winner in 2025 can be found here.

The Turners Novices’ Hurdle is a great opportunity for an emerging star to cast their name in lights at the Cheltenham Festival, and that is reflected in the trend that horses aged five or six have won eleven of the last 12 renewals.

The only exception was Sir Gerhard for Willie Mullins in 2022, who won aged seven. This trend favours a lot of the market principles, with The New Lion and Potters Charm both aged six.

The market has traditionally been accurate in predicting the winner of the Turners Novices’ Chase, with four of the last five winners being found at the top of the betting.

Ballyburn was the latest to continue this trend when winning at odds of 1/2 last year. The biggest priced winner since 2013 was Willoughby Court for the Ben Pauling yard at 14/1 in 2017.

Recent winning experience is a must when assessing the Turners Novices’ Hurdle trends.

Ten of the last 12 winners had won on their final start before heading to Cheltenham, while all of the last 12 winners had placed on their previous effort. Meanwhile, ten winners since 2013 had also won a graded race before the Festival.

At this stage, that trend supports the cases of all major players in the market, including The New Lion, who has been impressive on all three starts this season.

Irish domination at the Cheltenham Festival has been nothing new in recent memory, but it is reflected in the recent trends for the Turners Novices’ Hurdle.

Each of the last seven winners of the race have been trained on the other side of the Irish Sea, while the only British winner since 2014 was Willoughby Court for Ben Pauling. Willie Mullins has trained the winner of the race in each of the last three years. That could be an advantage for Kopek Des Bordes.

Being race fit for Cheltenham is also a major trend worth considering. Nine of the winners since 2013 have made at least three starts that season, while all 12 winners over the same period had recorded at least one win.

Meanwhile, all but one of the last 13 winners had recorded two victories before lining up in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle. That trend could go against runners such as Final Demand, Kiss Will, and Kaid d’Authie.

The British have a very strong hand in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle this year, and The New Lion could be very difficult to beat if turning up on Day Two.

However, Potters Charm could be the more interesting selection at the prices for the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard. The six-year-old has won on all four starts over hurdles, which included a dominant eleven-length success over Valgrand in the G2 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle over course and distance in November.

He looks a very consistent sort, and will relish going back up in trip after landing the G1 Formby Novices’ Hurdle over an inadequate two miles and one on Boxing Day.