Scottish Champion Hurdle Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2025 Scottish Champion Hurdle Preview

Scheduled to take place in April of each year at the Ayr racecourse is the Scottish Champion Hurdle, a race that takes place on the same day as the Scottish Grand National.

This is a Grade 2 which is a limited handicap race open to runners aged four or older, the race is run over two miles during which the runners will face up to a total of nine hurdles.

Scottish Champion Hurdle Information:

Scottish Champion Hurdle Past Winners
Scottish Champion Hurdle Trainer Statistics
Scottish Champion Hurdle Jockey Statistics

If you are interested in other predictions at Ayr then head over to the Ayr tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG racing tipsters and also compare those predictions to the runners that make the trend shortlist when added below. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races at Ayr Racecourse section for links to these.

How competitive is the Scottish Champion Hurdle market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2022 when the race had an over-round of 113%. The race in 2008 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 130%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Scottish Champion Hurdle, the over-round has been 121%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £121 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 Scottish Champion Hurdle next time out then you would have backed a total of 4 winners. Backing all 19 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -2.43. Before placing your bet on the 2025 Scottish Champion Hurdle see which other runners today are being backed on the racing predictions page.

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 3:34.40 was set by Border Castle in 2008, which is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by Andrew Haynes and ridden by Nick Scholfield. The slowest winning time was set in 2024 when Favour And Fortune won in a time of 3:54.38, booked to ride was Tom Cannon on this Alan King trained runner.

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

Border Castle (3:34.40) in 2008
Cheltenian (3:35.30) in 2015
Noble Alan (3:36.80) in 2009

Scottish Champion Hurdle Past Winners

Here are the Scottish 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 Scottish Champion Hurdle as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Year	Horse	Info
2024 3:54.38	Favour And Fortune (IRE) 6yo 11-2 5/1	Tom Cannon Alan King (GB)
2023 3:43.04	Rubaud (FR) 5yo 10-11 7/2F	Harry Cobden Paul Nicholls (GB)
2022 3:47.07	Anna Bunina (FR) 6yo 10-4 6/1	Sean Bowen John C McConnell (IRE)
2021 3:43.80	Milkwood (IRE) 7yo 11-6 3/1F	Sam Twiston-Davies Neil Mulholland (GB)
2019 3:39.10	Verdana Blue (IRE) 7yo 11-3 4/1F	Connor Brace (7lbs) Nicky Henderson (GB)
2018 3:41.50	Midnight Shadow (GB) 5yo 10-4 25/1	Danny Cook Sue Smith (GB)
2017 3:43.20	Chesterfield (IRE) 7yo 10-5 12/1	Daniel Sansom (7lbs) Seamus Mullins (GB)
2016 3:51.50	Chtibello (FR) 5yo 11-1 8/1	Harry Skelton Dan Skelton (GB)
2015 3:35.30	Cheltenian (FR) 9yo 10-13 10/1	Richard Johnson Philip Hobbs (GB)
2014 3:45.90	Cockney Sparrow (GB) 5yo 9-11 12/1	Dean Pratt (7lbs) John Quinn (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Scottish Champion Hurdle have been based:

GB: 18 winners with an additional 36 placings from 216 runners
IRE: 2 winners with an additional 6 placings from 18 runners
FR: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 1 runner

Scottish Champion Hurdle Trainer Statistics

There are multiple leading trainers in the Scottish Champion Hurdle over the last 20 renewals with Paul Nicholls, Alan King and Philip Hobbs having all won the race two times. Paul Nicholls winners have been with Sanctuaire (2011) and Rubaud (2023). Alan King winners have been with Raya Star (2012) and Favour And Fortune (2024). Philip Hobbs winners have been with Noble Request (2006) and Cheltenian (2015).

Here are some of the top Scottish 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):

Trainer	R-W-P	Win	EW
Paul Nicholls	24-2-7	-14.00	-11.57
Alan King	14-2-3	+0.50	-2.12
Philip Hobbs	10-2-3	+5.50	+2.10
Nicky Henderson	22-1-6	-17.00	-12.67
Nicky Richards	9-1-3	+0.50	-0.79
Dan Skelton	9-1-3	+0.00	-1.12
Donald McCain	9-1-2	-4.00	-4.35
John C McConnell	4-1-3	+3.00	+3.05
Evan Williams	4-1-2	+1.00	+0.70
Neil Mulholland	4-1-1	+0.00	-1.20

Scottish Champion Hurdle Jockey Statistics

Here are some of the top Scottish Champion 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):

Jockey	R-W-P	Win	EW
Harry Skelton	10-1-3	-1.00	-2.12
Sam Twiston-Davies	8-1-2	-4.00	-3.20
Sean Bowen	4-1-1	+3.00	+0.60
Adam Wedge	4-1-2	+1.00	+0.70
Harry Cobden	4-1-1	+0.50	-0.90
Nick Scholfield	3-1-1	+38.00	+23.00
Danny Cook	3-1-1	+23.00	+13.63
Daniel Sansom	2-1-2	+11.00	+7.75
Tom Cannon	2-1-1	+4.00	+2.13
Connor Brace	1-1-1	+4.00	+2.50

2025 Scottish Champion Hurdle Trends

Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): (2, 3), 1, 9, 2, 2, 5, 1, (1, PU), 6, (2, 4), 3, 2, 5, (3, 15), 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 5

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 (67%) - Carried 141 - 161lbs (Last Win)
20 / 20 (71%) - Made 3 - 6 starts (Season)
20 / 20 (82%) - In a field of 7 - 26 (LTO)
20 / 20 (85%) - No bigger than 14/1 (Career Win)
20 / 20 (86%) - Dam is not CZE/GDR/GER/NZ/SAF/USA bred
20 / 20 (86%) - Placed within last 4 starts
20 / 20 (86%) - No bigger than 33/1 (LTO)
20 / 20 (87%) - No bigger than 28/1 (Career Place)
20 / 20 (87%) - Achieved a TS of 105+ (Season)
20 / 20 (88%) - Carried no more than 160lbs
20 / 20 (88%) - No more than +17lbs (Vs Min Weight)
19 / 20 (83%) - Beaten no more -11½l (Debut)
19 / 20 (85%) - Achieved a TS of 105+ (Last 3)
19 / 20 (86%) - No bigger than 11/1 (Last Win)
18 / 20 (60%) - No bigger than 12/1

Remember to use the trends listed above along with the Ayr racing predictions to see if you can find the winner of the Scottish Champion Hurdle. if you are unaware of what trends and statistics are, how they can be used etc then head over to the OLBG Betting School and read this Stats And Trends article which will make everything much clearer.

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 share your thoughts on the Scottish Champion Hurdle by adding a tip on the race here.

Scottish Champion Hurdle Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +44.83 is when runners ran over 2m when last winning. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 1 career win at the track, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-26.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Scottish Champion Hurdle is Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 6 winners of this race who ran at Cheltenham last time out. The next best course which has produced the second most winners is Aintree, there has been a total number of 5 winners of this race who ran at Aintree last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 17 winners from a total of 215 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 3 winners from a total of 20 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have been disappointed with multiple attempts but no wins in the Scottish Champion Hurdle, that stallion is Montjeu who has failed to produce a winner from 6 runners.

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Border Castle in 2008, winning for Andrew Haynes at odds of 40/1 under the guidance of Nick Scholfield. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 6 winning favourites in the race. Before placing your bet on the 2025 Scottish Champion Hurdle head over to see which other runners today are being backed by the best racing tipsters today.

Other Principal races at Ayr racecourse

Here are some other notable races at the Ayr racecourse throughout the racing season that you may be interested in.

Races in April

Scottish Grand National

Races in September

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Scottish Champion Hurdle Preview are at hand, Andy and Darren. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for National Hunt Racing.

Darren Brett

Tipster competition manager

Darren has worked in the horse racing industry for decades bringing to OLBG for the last 20 years a wealth of knowledge, creating much of our content on these sports. Darren also manages our Grand National Guide and is the go-to font of knowledge for the world's greatest steeplechase.

Andy Powell

Content editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for jump racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful national hunt racing blogs for OLBG.

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