Champion Hurdle
16:00 Cheltenham Festival
2026-03-10
Winner: £262,077.52
Runners: 9
Going: Good To Soft
No. of hurdles: 8
Distance:
The Unibet Champion Hurdle, the feature race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival, is the championship contest for 2m hurdlers and has been won by some of the greatest hurdlers of all time, including Night Nurse, Persian War, Sea Pigeon and Istabraq. The Champion Hurdle had been won by the favourite for 5 consecutive years before Golden Ace caused an upset in 2025, winning at 25/1.
FORM
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CHAMPION HURDLE PREVIOUS WINNERS
| Year | Horse | Previous Form | Age | Price | Trainer | Jockey |
| 2025 | Golden Ace | 11-431 | 7 | 25/1 | Jeremy Scott | Lorcan Williams |
| 2024 | State Man | 21-111 | 7 | 2-5F | Willie Mullins | Paul Townend |
| 2023 | Constitution Hill | 1-11 | 6 | 4-11F | Nicky Henderson | Nico de Boinville |
| 2022 | Honeysuckle | 111-11 | 8 | 8-11 | Henry De Bromhead | Rachael Blackmore |
| 2021 | Honeysuckle | 111-11 | 7 | 9-4 | Henry De Bromhead | Rachael Blackmore |
| 2020 | Epitante | 119-11 | 6 | 2-1F | Nicky Henderson | Barry Geraghty |
| 2019 | Espoir D’Allen | 14-111 | 5 | 16-1 | Gavin Cromwell | Mark Walsh |
| 2018 | Buveur D’Air | 11-111 | 7 | 4-6F | Nicky Henderson | Barry Geraghty |
| 2017 | Buveur D’Air | 31-111 | 6 | 5-1 | Nicky Henderson | Noel Fehily |
| 2016 | Annie Power | 21-F-11 | 8 | 5-2F | Willie Mullins | Ruby Walsh |
| 2015 | Faugheen | 111-11 | 7 | 4-5F | Willie Mullins | Ruby Walsh |
CHAMPION HURDLE TRENDS AND STATS
Key trends
- Rated within 8lb of RPR top-rated, 8/10
- Won a Grade 1 hurdle, 8/10
- Won last time out, 9/10
- No more than 12 hurdle runs, 8/10
- Aged between six and eight, 9/10
Other factors
- Katchit (2008) broke a longstanding trend when he became the first five-year-old to win since See You Then in 1985 but in 2019 Espoir D’Allen became the second in just over a decade (28 from that age group had failed in the interim).
- Two winners had not run since the turn of the year (both trained by Nicky Henderson).
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WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR - CHAMPION HURDLE 2025
Constitution Hill, Brighterdaysahead and State Man were expected to fight out the finish but it was 25-1 shot Golden Ace who gained a shock win in the Champion Hurdle. Constitution Hill was sent off the 1-2 favourite but fell at the fourth-last, and then State Man looked firmly in command when exiting the race at the last. Golden Ace capitalised for Lorcan Williams and Jeremy Scott, staying on strongly up the hill for the biggest win in her career.