Graeme Rodway assesses how Epatante took her place in the history books

Epatante (Barry Geraghty) wins the Champion HurdleCheltenham 10.3.20 Pic: Edward Whitaker

Epatante wins the Champion Hurdle under Barry GeraghtyCredit: Edward Whitaker

Continuing our new series dissecting all the big races at Cheltenham, Racing Post tipster Graeme Rodway takes an in-depth look at the Champion Hurdle, won by Epatante.

We went into the 2020 Champion Hurdle with all kinds of questions but the one on most people’s lips was: is this the worst running of the race in recent times?

It was a fair question. Every Champion Hurdle winner since 2010 had achieved a Racing Post Rating of at least 170 when winning the big one at Cheltenham bar Annie Power (162) in 2016 and Buveur D’Air (165) in 2018. In this year’s running, only four of the 17 runners went into the race having run to an RPR higher than 160 and none had hit 170.

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Published on 20 March 2020inSeries

Last updated 16:24, 18 June 2020

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