2023 Champion Hurdle Preview, Trends & Analysis

A two-mile Champion Hurdle for the fastest hurdlers in national hunt racing, and the ability to travel well at speed and hurdle without losing momentum is crucial in this race at the Cheltenham racecourse. Below we go into the race in much more detail with previous trends and form picks highlighted by our expert tipsters in forum posts to help you find the winner of the Champion Hurdle.

Istabraq was the last horse to win three Champion Hurdles (1998 to 2000), could Honeysuckle return in 2023 in an attempt to match that? Make sure to have a read of the Best Bookies for Cheltenham and Best Bookie for BOG so you get the most out of your festival betting.

Champion Hurdle Content:

• Champion Hurdle Past Winners
• Champion Hurdle Trainer Statistics
• Champion Hurdle Jockey Statistics
• 2023 Champion Hurdle Trends
• Champion Hurdle Trend Analysis
• Schedule at the Cheltenham Festival

Our dedicated Cheltenham Betting Picks will not only bring you predictions from the OLBG racing tipsters for the upcoming card that includes the Champion Hurdle but will also have predictions for each meeting at Cheltenham throughout the season so be sure to head over there.

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 3:45.10 was set by Annie Power in 2016, that is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by W P Mullins and ridden by R Walsh. The slowest winning time was set in 2008 when Katchit won in a time of 4:08.10, booked to ride was Robert Thornton on this Alan King trained runner.

These are the top three quickest run Champion Hurdle over the last 20 renewals:

• 2016 - Annie Power (3:45.10)
• 2014 - Jezki (3:45.25)
• 2006 - Brave Inca (3:50.00)

How competitive is the Champion Hurdle market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2011 when the race had an over-round of 113%. The race in 2020 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 128%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Champion Hurdle, the over-round has been 119%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £119 which is bet.

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 Champion Hurdle next time out then you would have back a total of 11 winners. Backing all 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of +1.41. Remember to bookmark the racing tips page so you can get easy access to the OLBG racing picks on a daily basis.

Here are the Champion 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 Champion 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 Champion Hurdle have been based:

• IRE: 12 winners with an additional 17 placings from 101 runners
• GB: 8 winners with an additional 23 placings from 145 runners
• FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 4 runners
• GER: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner

The leading trainer in the Champion Hurdle over the last 20 renewals is Nicky Henderson who has won the race 5 times. Those 5 winners came from Punjabi (2009), Binocular (2010), Buveur DAir (2017), Buveur DAir (2018) & Epatante (2020). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Champion Hurdle are W P Mullins (4 wins) & Henry De Bromhead (2 wins).

Here are some of the top Champion 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):

The leading jockey in the Champion Hurdle over the last 20 renewals is Rachael Blackmore who has won the race 2 times. Those 2 winners came from Honeysuckle (2021) & Honeysuckle (2022). There is one jockey who has not had the best of times in the Champion Hurdle, Paul Townend has had a total of 11 rides to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top Champion Hurdle jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Rides, 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):

Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): ,3,2,(1,9),1,6,14,3,10,1,3,1,4,1,1,DSQ,1,6,1,1,1

The percentage shown is the percentage of the total number of runners who fell under that factor. High percentages are less appealing than lower ones as you would expect them to do well.

• 20 / 20 (56%) - Placed within past 19-78 days
• 20 / 20 (61%) - No bigger than 9/2 (LTO)
• 20 / 20 (64%) - Won within past 19-153 days
• 20 / 20 (65%) - Had 1-3 placings (90 Days)
• 20 / 20 (68%) - Won within past 180 days
• 20 / 20 (73%) - No bigger than 9/2 (Last Win)
• 20 / 20 (74%) - On GS or worse ground (Last Win)
• 20 / 20 (79%) - Within first 10 of market
• 20 / 20 (82%) - Had 5+ wins (Career)
• 20 / 20 (87%) - Ran in Non Hcp (LTO)
• 20 / 20 (87%) - Made 2-7 starts (1 Year)
• 20 / 20 (88%) - Contested a G1
• 19 / 20 (72%) - Won within 3 starts
• 19 / 20 (73%) - Ran over 15.5-16f (LTO)
• 19 / 20 (74%) - 1+ Wins with jockey
• 19 / 20 (84%) - Field of under 11 (LTO)
• 19 / 20 (85%) - Carried 11-2+ (LTO)
• 18 / 20 (53%) - No Bigger than 16/1
• 18 / 20 (74%) - Made 8+ starts (Non-Hcps)

Remember to use the trends listed above along with the Cheltenham racing predictions to see if you can find the winner of the Champion Hurdle. How well do you know your horse racing? Are there certain types of races which are you are unsure of? Why not take a look at this Types Of Horse Race article to familiarise yourself with the different types of racing, that is just one of many helpful horse racing articles in the OLBG Betting School.

Are you already a member? If not, then why not! With over £6,000 given away each month in the tipster competition, why not get involved? Remember, It is completely FREE! So, head over to the registration page to sign up today! If you are already a member, then why share your thoughts on the Champion Hurdle by adding a tip on the race here.

The trend factor which has produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +24.43 is when runners ran over 2m when last winning. The worst performing factor which has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 0 places in the past 90 days, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-87.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Champion Hurdle is Leopardstown, there has been a total number of 6 winners of this race who ran at Leopardstown last time out. The next best course which has produced the second most winners is Sandown, there has been a total number of 4 winners of this race who ran at Sandown last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 16 winners from a total of 238 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 4 winners from a total of 13 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Champion Hurdle:

• Archway (2 Wins)
• Crillon (2 Wins)
• Montjeu (2 Wins)
• Sulamani (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Champion Hurdle despite multiple attempts:

• Kings Theatre (0 Wins from 7 runners)
• Beat Hollow (0 Wins from 6 runners)
• Perugino (0 Wins from 6 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest priced winner was Hardy Eustace in 2004 when winning for D T Hughes at odds of 33/1 under the guidance of Conor O'Dwyer. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there has been a total of 10 winning favourites in the race. Whilst we wait for the 2023 Champion Hurdle remember you can get daily racing predictions from the top racing tipsters on the best racing tipsters page.

Have a look at our racing tipsters Cheltenham predictions for the Champion Hurdle. Next up is the Close Brothers Mares Hurdle, head over to find trends and tips.

Cheltenham Festival races for Tuesday 14th March 2023

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Cheltenham Festival races for Thursday 16th March 2023

Cheltenham Festival races for Friday 17th March 2023