Sefton Novices Hurdle Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Grand National Meeting)

Updated: 1839 Horse Racing

We look at the Sefton Novices Hurdle ahead of the next renewal, a race contested over 3m½f at Aintree during the Grand National Meeting to see which runners, trainers and jockeys have previously won the race and which trends you can use to find the winner of the Sefton Novices Hurdle.

Sefton Novices Hurdle Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Grand National Meeting)
In this article: Preview
Andy Powell Content Editor

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 Sefton Novices Hurdle Preview

Open to novices over hurdles, the Sefton Novices Hurdle is a Grade 1 race which is scheduled to take place in April of each year during the Grand National meeting at the Aintree racecourse.

The race is run over a trip of three miles and half a furlong in which the runners will have to jump thirteen hurdles.

Sefton Novices Hurdle Information:

To see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are tipping throughout the card that includes this race, head over to the Aintree tips on the day of the race, do they agree with the runners on the trend shortlist or are they predicting other runners? 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 Sefton Novices 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 113%. The race in 2012 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 Sefton Novices Hurdle, the over-round has been 121%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £121 which is bet.

Sefton Novices Hurdle Trends:

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 Sefton Novices Hurdle next time out then you would have backed a total of 9 winners. Backing all 19 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of +3.90. Whilst we wait for the 2025 Sefton Novices Hurdle remember you can get daily racing predictions from the expert tipsters on the racing predictions page.

Over the last 20 renewals, it was the Nicky Henderson trained Beat That ridden by Barry Geraghty who set the fastest winning time in the Sefton Novices Hurdle, the runner won the race in a time of 6:02.90 was set when winning the race in 2014. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer Nicky Henderson and jockey Nico de Boinville with Santini who set the slowest winning time, the race-winning time was 6:40.80 in the 2018 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Sefton Novices Hurdle over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Beat That (6:02.90) in 2014
  2. Accipiter I (6:03.40) in 2004
  3. Thistlecrack (6:04.10) in 2015
What the expert says...
The Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival produced the 2024 winner Dancing City who finished third in that race before winning this. That was the first winner to come from the Cheltenham festival since Champ won in 2019 but also means that five of the last six winners who came from the Festival ran in the Albert Bartlett.

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Sefton Novices Hurdle Past Winners

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

YearHorseInfo
2024
6:34.82
Dancing City (FR)
7yo 11-8 4/1
Paul Townend
W P Mullins (IRE)
2023
6:22.92
Apple Away (IRE)
6yo 11-1 16/1
Stephen Mulqueen
Lucinda Russell (GB)
2022
6:11.41
Gelino Bello (FR)
6yo 11-7 7/2
Harry Cobden
Paul Nicholls (GB)
2021
6:13.80
Ahoy Senor (IRE)
6yo 11-4 66/1
Derek Fox
Lucinda Russell (GB)
2019
6:17.90
Champ (IRE)
7yo 11-4 9/4F
Mark Walsh
Nicky Henderson (GB)
2018
6:40.80
Santini (GB)
6yo 11-4 6/4F
Nico de Boinville
Nicky Henderson (GB)
2017
6:05.80
The Worlds End (IRE)
6yo 11-4 3/1
A P Heskin
Tom George (GB)
2016
6:17.90
Ballyoptic (IRE)
6yo 11-4 9/1
Ryan Hatch
Nigel Twiston-Davies (GB)
2015
6:04.10
Thistlecrack (GB)
7yo 11-4 25/1
Tom Scudamore
Colin Tizzard (GB)
2014
6:02.90
Beat That (IRE)
6yo 11-4 6/1
Barry Geraghty
Nicky Henderson (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Sefton Novices Hurdle have been based:

  • GB: 18 winners with an additional 37 placings from 241 runners
  • IRE: 2 winners with an additional 3 placings from 32 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner

Sefton Novices Hurdle Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Sefton Novices Hurdle over the last 20 renewals is Nicky Henderson who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Beat That (2014), Santini (2018) and Champ (2019). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Sefton Novices Hurdle are Nigel Twiston-Davies (2 wins) and Lucinda Russell (2 wins).

Here are some of the top Sefton Novices 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):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
Nicky Henderson16-3-5-3.25-5.85
Nigel Twiston-Davies16-2-4+11.00+6.50
Lucinda Russell7-2-3+77.00+54.70
Paul Nicholls17-1-5-12.50-9.74
Alan King10-1-1-1.00-5.00
W P Mullins6-1-2-1.00-1.55
Jonjo O'Neill6-1-2-4.38-4.06
Rebecca Curtis5-1-2-2.62-2.12
Tim Vaughan4-1-2+30.00+15.10
Tom George4-1-1+0.00-1.20

Sefton Novices Hurdle Jockey Statistics

There is one jockey who has not had the best of times in the Sefton Novices Hurdle, Sam Twiston-Davies has ridden a total of 10 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top Sefton Novices 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):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Nico de Boinville6-1-1-3.50-4.10
Paddy Brennan5-1-1+12.00+5.60
Harry Cobden4-1-2+0.50-0.24
Paul Townend3-1-1+2.00+0.40
A P Heskin3-1-1+1.00-0.20
Derek Fox2-1-2+65.00+49.10
Dougie Costello2-1-1+8.00+4.40
Mark Walsh2-1-2+1.25+1.35
Stephen Mulqueen1-1-1+16.00+9.60
Sam Twiston-Davies10-0-0-10.00-10.00

Sefton Novices Hurdle Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +120.88 is when runners had 2 places in the past 90 days. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners last win was 3 starts ago, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-43.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Sefton Novices Hurdle is Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 8 winners of this race who ran at Cheltenham last time out. The next best course which has produced the second most winners is Newbury, there has been a total number of 3 winners of this race who ran at Newbury 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 261 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 Sefton Novices Hurdle:

  • Milan (2 Wins)
  • Oscar (2 Wins)

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

  • Flemensfirth (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Accordion (0 Wins from 5 runners)
  • Beneficial (0 Wins from 5 runners)
  • Presenting (0 Wins from 5 runners)
  • Westerner (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Ahoy Senor in 2021, winning for Lucinda Russell at odds of 66/1 under the guidance of Derek Fox. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 4 winning favourites in the race. Ahead of the 2025 Sefton Novices Hurdle why not head over to the best racing tipster page to see what the tipsters are backing today?

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.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:45 Aintree
Manifesto Novices Chase
Il Etait Temps (FR)
6yo - 3/1
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
14:20 Aintree
Anniversary 4YO Juvenile Hurdle
Sir Gino (FR)
4yo - 11/10
Nicky Henderson
Nico de Boinville
14:55 Aintree
Bowl Chase
Gerri Colombe (FR)
8yo - 9/4
Gordon Elliott
Jack Kennedy
15:30 Aintree
Aintree Hurdle
Impaire Et Passe (FR)
6yo - 1/1
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
16:05 Aintree
Foxhunters Chase
Its On The Line (IRE)
7yo - 3/1
Emmet Mullins
Mr Derek O'Connor
16:40 Aintree
Red Rum Handicap Chase
Sans Bruit (FR)
6yo - 5/1
Paul Nicholls
Bryony Frost
17:15 Aintree
Nickel Coin Mares Bumper
Diva Luna (IRE)
5yo - 13/2
Ben Pauling
Kielan Woods

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.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:45 Aintree
Mildmay Novices Chase
Inothewayurthinkin (IRE)
6yo - 6/4
Gavin Cromwell
Mark Walsh
14:20 Aintree
William Hill National Festival Handicap Hurdle
Kateira (GB)
7yo - 5/1
Dan Skelton
Harry Skelton
14:55 Aintree
Top Novices Hurdle
Mystical Power (IRE)
5yo - 11/10
W P Mullins
Mark Walsh
15:30 Aintree
Melling Chase
Jonbon (FR)
8yo - 11/10
Nicky Henderson
Nico de Boinville
16:05 Aintree
Topham Chase
Arizona Cardinal (GB)
8yo - 20/1
Stuart Edmunds
Ciaran Gethings
16:40 Aintree
Sefton Novices Hurdle
Dancing City (FR)
7yo - 4/1
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
17:15 Aintree
Alder Hey Handicap Hurdle
El Jefe (IRE)
7yo - 40/1
Andrew Hamilton
Ben Smith

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.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Aintree
Bridle Road Handicap Hurdle
Gwennie May Boy (IRE)
6yo - 9/2
Dan Skelton
Charlie Todd
13:55 Aintree
Mersey Novices Hurdle
Brighterdaysahead (FR)
5yo - 6/5
Gordon Elliott
Jack Kennedy
14:30 Aintree
William Hill National Festival Handicap Chase
Cruz Control (FR)
7yo - 9/1
Tom Lacey
Stan Sheppard
15:05 Aintree
Liverpool Hurdle
Strong Leader (GB)
7yo - 8/1
Olly Murphy
Sean Bowen
16:00 Aintree
Grand National
I Am Maximus (FR)
8yo - 7/1
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
17:00 Aintree
Maghull Novices Chase
Found A Fifty (IRE)
7yo - 11/8
Gordon Elliott
Jack Kennedy
17:35 Aintree
Champion Standard Open NH Flat Race
Horaces Pearl (FR)
6yo - 14/1
Fergal O'Brien
Connor Brace

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Sefton Novices 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

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

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.

No Comments

There are no comments here. Be the first to comment...

Keep Reading

Tony Pulis

Updated: 13

Tony Pulis

Exclusive Interview with Tony Pulis: Leicester City WILL win promotion despite patchy form, expectation on Leeds players might have hampered their performances, ‘The majority of football’ wanted Sunderland to struggle this season

Continue Reading

Exclusive Markus Babbel Interview

Updated: 12

Exclusive Markus Babbel Interview

Former Liverpool defender, Markus Babbel discusses Jurgen Klopp's potential as a candidate for the next England manager, identifies weaknesses in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defensive abilities, and reveals Carragher and Fowler as the biggest party animals he's known in his interview with OLBG.

Continue Reading

By using this site you confirm you are 18+ and consent to our use of cookies and processing of personal data as set out in our Privacy Policy
Got it!