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Breeding & Pedigree Guide
Ahead of the start of the Cheltenham Festival, this blog will look at the four main novice hurdle races, the Supreme Novices Hurdle, the Baring Bingham (Turners) Novices Hurdle, the Mares Novices Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle.
OLBG members will be adding their horse racing tips on these races during the Festival, and along with those, hopefully, this blog will help them help you.
Novice races are usually for horses that haven't won a race before the current season, so in practice, the runners are usually in their first season over the type of obstacle to be jumped.
That said, some horses fail to win for a full season and so go on to become second-season novices. Some rules allow a horse that didn't win a novice race until very late in a season to compete in some novice races at the start of the following season, although this won't be in play at the festival.
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Supreme Novices Hurdle
The Supreme Novices Hurdle is a grade one contest over an extended two miles, and as the name suggests, it is for hurdlers in their novice year. Since it is the first race of the festival, as the horses go off, they are accompanied by the famous Cheltenham roar.
In terms of breeding, the last twenty winners have all been either French, British or Irish bred; however, those have also made up the vast number of the runners, with only 15 bred elsewhere.
Chestnut runners don't have a great record; 18 of the last 20 races have featured at least one of those, and they have not won any. They are 0-29 over the last twenty renewals.
Do watch out for any grey entries, 26 have been entered over the last 20 renewals, and they have gone on to win 4 of those races, so for a relatively low number of entrants, they have won plenty.
There have not been any standout sires for this race; the last twenty winners all being sired by a different horse, Galileo (0-7), Kayf Tara (0-7), Westerner (0-5), and Oscar (0-5) have all sired five or more entrants without success.
Here are the Supreme Novices Hurdle past winners for the last 5 renewals
| Year | Horse | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 3:51.36 | Old Park Star (IRE) 6yo 11-7 15/8F | Nico de Boinville Nicky Henderson (GB) |
| 2025 3:52.04 | Kopek Des Bordes (FR) 5yo 11-7 4/6F | Paul Townend W P Mullins (IRE) |
| 2024 4:12.87 | Slade Steel (IRE) 6yo 11-7 7/2 | Rachael Blackmore Henry De Bromhead (IRE) |
| 2023 3:59.69 | Marine Nationale (IRE) 6yo 11-7 9/2 | Michael O'Sullivan Barry Connell (IRE) |
| 2022 3:44.35 | Constitution Hill (GB) 5yo 11-7 9/4F | Nico de Boinville Nicky Henderson (GB) |
Baring Bingham Novices Hurdle
The Baring Bingham Novices Hurdle (Turners Novices Hurdle) is the middle-distance event for novice hurdlers taking place as the first race of the second day of the festival.
Ideally, you are looking for either a French or Irish-bred runner in this race as they have supplied 18 of the last 20 winners and won every renewal between 2013 & 2024.
The last winner who was not either French or Irish-bred was when the British-bred The New Lion won in 2025.
There have been three dual-winning sires over the past twenty renewals with Court Cave (2017 & 2019), Germany (2014 & 2018), and Presenting (2011 & 2016), all providing multiple winners.
Those who have not been so lucky are the likes of Beneficial (0-7), Westerner (0-6), Getaway (0-6), Milan (0-5) and Walk In The Park (0-5).
Here are the Baring Bingham Novices Hurdle past winners for the last 5 renewals
| Year | Horse | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 5:03.54 | King Rasko Grey (FR) 6yo 11-7 11/1 | Paul Townend W P Mullins (IRE) |
| 2025 5:11.07 | The New Lion (GB) 6yo 11-7 3/1 | Harry Skelton Dan Skelton (GB) |
| 2024 5:22.96 | Ballyburn (IRE) 6yo 11-7 1/2F | Paul Townend W P Mullins (IRE) |
| 2023 5:10.74 | Impaire Et Passe (FR) 5yo 11-7 5/2 | Paul Townend W P Mullins (IRE) |
| 2022 5:20.38 | Sir Gerhard (IRE) 7yo 11-7 8/11F | Paul Townend W P Mullins (IRE) |
Mares Novices Hurdle
The Mares Novices Hurdle is the newest of the novice hurdles that feature at the Cheltenham Festival, with it being added in 2016. The race is contested by mares over two miles and one furlong and is a Grade 2.
The first seven renewals saw either a French or Irish-bred runner win the race; however, in both 2023 & 2024, we saw British-bred runners win the renewals before the consecutive Irish-bred winners in 2025 & 2026.
- 5-101 - Irish Bred
- 4-62 - French Bred
- 2-31 - British Bred
- 0-4 - Others
Westerner (2022 & 2025) is the only dual-winning sire of the race while there are a few sires who have not had the best of times with Flemensfirth (0-10), Walk In The Park (0-8), Getaway (0-7), No Risk At All (0-6), Martaline (0-5), Yeats (0-5) and Doctor Dino (0-5).
Here are the Mares Novices Hurdle past winners for the last 5 renewals
| Year | Horse | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 4:03.59 | White Noise (IRE) 6yo 11-4 40/1 | Tom Bellamy Kim Bailey & Mat Nicholls (GB) |
| 2025 4:04.26 | Air Of Entitlement (IRE) 6yo 11-4 16/1 | Rachael Blackmore Henry De Bromhead (IRE) |
| 2024 4:20.60 | Golden Ace (GB) 6yo 11-2 10/1 | Lorcan Williams Jeremy Scott (GB) |
| 2023 4:06.70 | You Wear It Well (GB) 6yo 11-7 16/1 | Gavin Sheehan Jamie Snowden (GB) |
| 2022 4:08.26 | Love Envoi (IRE) 6yo 11-7 15/2 | Jonathan Burke Harry Fry (GB) |
Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle
This is the longest of the four novice hurdles races, taking place on the Friday of the festival, immediately before the Gold Cup, and is the Albert Bartlett Novices Chase, which is contested over just shy of three miles.
All of the twenty winners of this race have been geldings; however, only 12 of the 362 entries have not been geldings, with 10 mares who have only produced two places and two 'Horse'.
The Irish-bred runners have won 70% of the renewals (14-20), including 7 of the last 9, the French-bred have 4 wins with their last coming in 2025, and the British-bred have just 2 wins, which came back-to-back in 2016 & 2017.
16 of the 20 winners were bay horses, 2 of the other 4 were chestnut in colour, whilst the other two winners were grey.
Oscar (2013 & 2018), Kings Theatre (2007 & 2012), Martaline (2014 & 2021), and Shantou (2023 & 2024) have all produced two winners over the last twenty renewals.
Whilst there are a few sires with poor records in the race, those are Flemensfirth (0-12), Westerner (0-9), Kayf Tara (0-8), Getaway (0-6), Walk In The Park (0-6) and Old Vic (0-5).
Here are the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle past winners for the last 5 renewals
| Year | Horse | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 5:59.64 | Johnnys Jury (IRE) 6yo 11-7 20/1 | Gavin Sheehan Jamie Snowden (GB) |
| 2025 5:57.13 | Jasmin De Vaux (FR) 6yo 11-7 6/1 | Paul Townend W P Mullins (IRE) |
| 2024 6:24.40 | Stellar Story (IRE) 7yo 11-7 33/1 | Sam Ewing Gordon Elliott (IRE) |
| 2023 5:59.49 | Stay Away Fay (IRE) 6yo 11-7 18/1 | Harry Cobden Paul Nicholls (GB) |
| 2022 5:53.58 | The Nice Guy (IRE) 7yo 11-8 18/1 | Sean O'Keeffe W P Mullins (IRE) |
Schedule for Tuesday at the Cheltenham Festival
Prepare for the ROAR of the Cheltenham Festival on the opening day, when the tape goes up for the Supreme Novices Hurdle. The feature on Tuesday is the Champion Hurdle.
| Race | Last Winner | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 13:20 Cheltenham Supreme Novices Hurdle | Old Park Star (IRE) 6yo - 15/8 | Nicky Henderson Nico de Boinville |
| 14:00 Cheltenham Arkle Challenge Trophy | Kargese (FR) 6yo - 7/1 | W P Mullins Danny Mullins |
| 14:40 Cheltenham Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle | Saratoga (IRE) 4yo - 10/1 | Padraig Roche Mark Walsh |
| 15:20 Cheltenham Ultima Handicap Chase | Johnnywho (IRE) 9yo - 18/1 | Jonjo & A J O'Neill Richie McLernon |
| 16:00 Cheltenham Champion Hurdle | Lossiemouth (FR) 7yo - 7/5 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 16:40 Cheltenham Festival Plate | Madara (FR) 7yo - 3/1 | Dan Skelton Harry Skelton |
| 17:20 Cheltenham National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup | Holloway Queen (IRE) 6yo - 12/1 | Nicky Henderson James Bowen |
Schedule for Wednesday at the Cheltenham Festival
The dust has settled on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, and now on to day two. The feature on the second day is the Queen Mother Champion Chase. We also have the cross country scheduled on Wednesday, a race like Marmite, some love it, and some don't!
| Race | Last Winner | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 13:20 Cheltenham Turners Novices Hurdle | King Rasko Grey (FR) 6yo - 11/1 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 14:00 Cheltenham Brown Advisory Novices Chase | Kitzbuhel (FR) 6yo - 11/1 | W P Mullins Harry Cobden |
| 14:40 Cheltenham BetMGM Cup | Jingko Blue (FR) 7yo - 9/2 | Nicky Henderson James Bowen |
| 15:20 Cheltenham Cross Country Chase | Final Orders (GB) 10yo - 7/1 | Gavin Cromwell Conor Stone-Walsh |
| 16:00 Cheltenham Queen Mother Champion Chase | Il Etait Temps (FR) 8yo - 5/2 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 16:40 Cheltenham Johnny Henderson Grand Annual | Martator (FR) 9yo - 66/1 | Venetia Williams Charlie Deutsch |
| 17:20 Cheltenham Champion Bumper | The Mourne Rambler (IRE) 5yo - 15/2 | Noel Meade Colin Keane |
Schedule for Thursday at the Cheltenham Festival
Halfway through the festival and onto day three, where the Stayers Hurdle is the feature race. A hurdle race to test the stamina and see how can last up the Cheltenham hill.
| Race | Last Winner | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 13:20 Cheltenham Mares Novices Hurdle | White Noise (IRE) 6yo - 40/1 | Kim Bailey & Mat Nicholls Tom Bellamy |
| 14:00 Cheltenham Novices Limited Handicap Chase | Meetmebythesea (IRE) 6yo - 9/1 | Ben Pauling Ben Jones |
| 14:40 Cheltenham Close Brothers Mares Hurdle | Wodhooh (FR) 6yo - 5/6 | Gordon Elliott Jack Kennedy |
| 15:20 Cheltenham Stayers Hurdle | Home By The Lee (IRE) 11yo - 33/1 | Joseph Patrick O'Brien J J Slevin |
| 16:00 Cheltenham Ryanair Chase | Heart Wood (FR) 8yo - 9/2 | Henry De Bromhead Darragh O'Keeffe |
| 16:40 Cheltenham Pertemps Network Final | Supremely West (IRE) 8yo - 100/30 | Dan Skelton Harry Skelton |
| 17:20 Cheltenham Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup | Ask Brewster (IRE) 7yo - 22/1 | Mrs C Williams Mr S Cotter |
Schedule for Friday at the Cheltenham Festival
The final day of the festival and the feature race that we have all been waiting for, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, in which the Irish have been fairly dominant in recent years.
| Race | Last Winner | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 13:20 Cheltenham Triumph Hurdle | Apolon De Charnie (FR) 4yo - 50/1 | W P Mullins Mr P W Mullins |
| 14:00 Cheltenham County Handicap Hurdle | Wilful (IRE) 7yo - 14/1 | Jonjo & A J O'Neill Jonjo O'Neill Jr |
| 14:40 Cheltenham Mrs Paddy Power Mares Chase | Dinoblue (FR) 9yo - 11/8 | W P Mullins Mark Walsh |
| 15:20 Cheltenham Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle | Johnnys Jury (IRE) 6yo - 20/1 | Jamie Snowden Gavin Sheehan |
| 16:00 Cheltenham Cheltenham Gold Cup | Gaelic Warrior (GER) 8yo - 11/4 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 16:40 Cheltenham Festival Hunters Chase | Barton Snow (IRE) 9yo - 9/2 | J J O'Shea Mr Henry Crow |
| 17:20 Cheltenham Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle | Air Of Entitlement (IRE) 7yo - 10/1 | Henry De Bromhead Patrick M O'Brien |
Article Contributor Information
We are fortunate to have an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to the creation and maintenance of this Cheltenham Novice Hurdlers Breeding & Pedigree Guide are Andy and Darren. They both work on the Horse Racing Tips team, overseeing the tipsters and managing the tip settlement, while also creating and managing all the horse racing event previews for National Hunt Racing.
Darren Brett
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Andy Powell
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