Harry Cobden barely had to move. Tutti Quanti simply galloped his rivals into submission at Newbury on Saturday, hitting the line fifteen lengths clear with theCommentary barely breaking stride. But it wasn’t just the margin that raised eyebrows—it was the weight he was lumping around.
Twelve stone. In a fiercely competitive two-mile handicap hurdle. First time ever.
According to SmartForm data, no horse in the modern history of the William Hill Hurdle (formerly the Betfair Hurdle) has won carrying 168lbs. The previous benchmark was 162lbs—a mark shared by five different winners including Glory And Fortune (2022), Iberico Lord (2024), and Paul Nicholls’ own Pic D’Orhy (2020).
Nicholls, never one to undersell a performance, was quick to draw comparisons: “He is the first horse ever to do that with that weight.” The data backs him up. In a race where the average winner since 2010 has carried closer to 155lbs, Tutti Quanti was giving upwards of a stone to most of his rivals—and making them look ordinary.
The obvious question now: is he a Champion Hurdle horse?
The precedent is mixed. Iberico Lord took the same path last season—Betfair Hurdle winner to Champion Hurdle contender—and finished unplaced behind State Man. Glory And Fortune attempted the same double in 2022 and met a similar fate. In fact, you have to go back to My Tent Or Yours in 2014 to find a horse who won this race and then ran prominently at the Festival that same spring—and even he was beaten a neck in the Supreme.
But Tutti Quanti’s profile is different. Those previous winners were rated in the low-to-mid 140s. He sits on 138, suggesting there’s room to manoeuvre in either direction. And while Iberico Lord and Glory And Fortune both had form tied to softer ground, Nicholls seems convinced his charge would prefer it quicker—“If the ground was testing we might look at it. If the ground was good we wouldn’t.”
There’s also the question of trajectory. Pic D’Orhy, Nicholls’ previous winner of this race, carried 159lbs to victory in 2020 and went on to become a multiple Grade 1 winner over fences. He didn’t run at that season’s Festival, but the following campaign he won the Ascot Chase and finished second in the Ryanair. The William Hill Hurdle has proven a solid stepping stone for Nicholls—he’s now won it twice this decade, with both horses going on to better things.
The supplement option remains open until five days before the Festival. By then, the ground at Cheltenham will be clearer, and so will the shape of the Champion Hurdle market. Constitution Hill’s absence has blown the race wide open. If the going comes up testing, Nicholls and owner Colm Donlon have a decision to make.
History suggests they’d be swimming against the tide. The data says they might have the horse to buck it.