The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle is a Grade 1 race over 3 miles on the Friday of the Festival. It’s the stamina test for the novice hurdlers and frequently produces future Gold Cup contenders — Bobs Worth, Monkfish and Minella Indo all won this before going on to chase glory.
Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Jasmin De Vaux | W P Mullins | P Townend | 6 | 6/1 |
| 2024 | Stellar Story | Gordon Elliott | Sam Ewing | 7 | 33/1 |
| 2023 | Stay Away Fay | P F Nicholls | H Cobden | 6 | 18/1 |
| 2022 | The Nice Guy | W P Mullins | S F O’Keeffe | 7 | 18/1 |
| 2021 | Vanillier | Gavin Cromwell | M P Walsh | 6 | 14/1 |
| 2020 | Monkfish | W P Mullins | P Townend | 6 | 5/1 |
| 2019 | Minella Indo | Henry de Bromhead | R Blackmore | 6 | 50/1 |
| 2018 | Kilbricken Storm | C L Tizzard | H Cobden | 7 | 33/1 |
| 2017 | Penhill | W P Mullins | P Townend | 6 | 16/1 |
| 2016 | Unowhatimeanharry | Harry Fry | N D Fehily | 8 | 11/1 |
Key Trends
Age profile: Six-year-olds have won 10 of 18 renewals — more than half. Seven-year-olds have won 6 times. A single five-year-old (Very Wood in 2014) and a single eight-year-old (Unowhatimeanharry in 2016) have managed it. The 6-year-old profile makes sense for a staying novice hurdle.
Favourite record: The favourite has won just 2 of 18 renewals (11%). That’s a terrible strike rate for a Grade 1. They’ve placed 8 times from 19 favourite runners, which isn’t great either. The average favourite SP of about 3/1 suggests reasonably strong market leaders, but they keep getting beaten.
Trainers: Mullins has 4 wins from 58 runners — a modest 7% strike rate, though he saddles huge numbers. Elliott has 1 from 17, Nicholls 1 from 14, Henderson 1 from 17, de Bromhead 1 from 9. No trainer dominates.
Going: Good to Soft is the most common ground (7 editions), but winners have come on everything from Good (5 winners) to Heavy (Stellar Story in 2024). No clear ground bias.
What the Data Says
This is the race at the Festival where you should strongly consider looking beyond the favourite. A 11% favourite win rate over 18 renewals is one of the worst records at the meeting. The average winning SP of around 18/1 confirms this — the Albert Bartlett regularly produces big-priced winners.
Minella Indo at 50/1, Kilbricken Storm and Stellar Story at 33/1, and Very Wood at 33/1 all demonstrate how wide open this race can be. Only 3 winners have gone off shorter than 10/1: At Fishers Cross (19/8 in 2013), Bobs Worth (11/4 in 2011) and Monkfish (5/1 in 2020).
The explanation is straightforward: these are often unexposed staying novice hurdlers who may have had only a handful of starts. Their ability to handle the stamina test at Cheltenham is genuinely uncertain, and the market can’t always find the answer.
One thing worth noting: previous Cheltenham Festival winners don’t have a notable record here. This is often a horse’s first Festival experience, and it’s a real test of whether they can handle the unique demands of the course over 3 miles.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.