William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Grand National Meeting)

2025 William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Preview

Scheduled to take place at the Grand National meeting each year at the Aintree racecourse is this Premier Handicap Hurdle, currently sponsored by William Hill.

This race is open to runners aged four or older and was first run in 1989, it is run over a trip of two miles and four furlongs in which the runners will have to jump a total of eleven hurdles.

William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Information:

• William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Past Winners
• William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Trainer Statistics
• William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Jockey Statistics

In April, the only thing racing fans are interested in is the Grand National tips from the OLBG expert racing tipsters, which of the forty runners are they predicting to win the showcase race at Aintree? We cover every race at the Aintree Grand National Meeting and below you can find links to all of the races for each of Thursday, Friday & Saturday.

How competitive is the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2013 when the race had an over-round of 125%. The race in 2019 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 137%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle, the over-round has been 131%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £131 which is bet.

William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Trends:

• 2025 William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Trends
• William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Trend Analysis

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -11.50. Before placing your bet on the 2025 William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle see which other runners today are being backed on the racing predictions page.

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 4:52.20 was set by Theinval in 2015, which is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Jeremiah McGrath. The slowest winning time was set in 2018 when Jester Jet won in a time of 5:11.60, booked to ride was Robert Dunne on this Tom Lacey trained runner.

These are the top three quickest-run William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle over the last 20 renewals:

1. Theinval (4:52.20) in 2015
2. Genghis (4:53.10) in 2005
3. Clondaw Kaempfer (4:53.50) in 2014

William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Past Winners

Here are the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. The trainer of the horse at the time of winning the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle have been based:

• GB: 15 winners with an additional 54 placings from 381 runners
• IRE: 5 winners with an additional 5 placings from 44 runners
• FR: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 2 runners

William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle over the last 20 renewals is Nicky Henderson who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Minella Forfitness (2013), Theinval (2015) and Rather Be (2017). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle are Jonjo O'Neill (2 wins), Dan Skelton (2 wins) and Gordon Elliott (2 wins). Multiple trainers have not had the best of times over the last 20 renewals in the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle, Paul Nicholls (0-26), Philip Hobbs (0-17), David Pipe (0-15), Nigel Twiston-Davies (0-12) and Venetia Williams (0-10) have all failed to produce a single winner despite sending multiple runners to the race.

Here are some of the top William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Jockey Statistics

There are multiple leading jockeys in the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle over the last 20 renewals with Harry Skelton, Jeremiah McGrath and Jack Kennedy having all won the race two times. Harry Skelton winners have been with Langer Dan (2022) and Kateira (2024). Jeremiah McGrath's winners have been with Theinval (2015) and Rather Be (2017). Jack Kennedy winners have been with Three Musketeers (2019) and Tronador (2021). Two jockeys have not had the best of times over the last 20 renewals in the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle, Paddy Brennan has ridden a total of 10 runners to the race without recording any wins whilst Brian Hughes has ridden 10 without a winner.

Here are some of the top William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +38.00 is when runners were Irish bred. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners ran on Heavy ground when last winning, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-53.

The course which has produced the most winners of the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle is Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 10 winners of this race who ran at Cheltenham last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 18 winners from a total of 414 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 2 winners from a total of 13 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle:

• Oscar (2 Wins)
• Second Empire (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle despite multiple attempts:

• Beneficial (0 Wins from 7 runners)
• Authorized (0 Wins from 6 runners)
• Accordion (0 Wins from 5 runners)
• Kings Theatre (0 Wins from 5 runners)
• Saint Des Saints (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Auroras Encore in 2008, winning for Sue Smith at odds of 50/1 under the guidance of Tjade Collier. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 2 winning favourites in the race. Whilst we wait for the 2025 William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle remember you can get daily racing predictions from the top racing tipsters on the best racing tipsters page.

Schedule for Thursday at the Aintree Grand National Meeting

The three-day Grand National meeting kicks off on Thursday with four Grade 1 events on the seven-race card which features both the Aintree Hurdle and the Bowl Chase.

Schedule for Friday at the Aintree Grand National Meeting

Day 2 of the Grand National meeting is Ladies Day or Fabulous Friday, the highlights on the track being the Melling Chase plus there is the Topham Chase over the Grand National fences.

Schedule for Saturday at the Aintree Grand National Meeting

The Grand National is obviously the showpiece of the Aintree meeting and day 3 also includes three Grade 1 events, the feature of those being the Liverpool Hurdle.