The Champion Hurdle is the 2-mile hurdling championship, run on Tuesday of the Festival. It’s produced some of the most memorable moments in jumps racing — Hurricane Fly’s two wins, the dominance of Honeysuckle, and Constitution Hill’s devastating display in 2023.
Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Golden Ace | J Scott | L Williams | 7 | 25/1 |
| 2024 | State Man | W P Mullins | P Townend | 7 | 2/5 |
| 2023 | Constitution Hill | N Henderson | N de Boinville | 6 | 4/11 |
| 2022 | Honeysuckle | Henry de Bromhead | R Blackmore | 8 | 8/11 |
| 2021 | Honeysuckle | Henry de Bromhead | R Blackmore | 7 | 11/10 |
| 2020 | Epatante | N Henderson | B J Geraghty | 6 | 3/1 |
| 2019 | Espoir D’Allen | Gavin Cromwell | M P Walsh | 5 | 16/1 |
| 2018 | Buveur D’Air | N Henderson | B J Geraghty | 7 | 4/6 |
| 2017 | Buveur D’air | N Henderson | N D Fehily | 6 | 5/1 |
| 2016 | Annie Power | W P Mullins | R Walsh | 8 | 5/2 |
Key Trends
Age profile: Seven-year-olds have the best record with 9 wins from 23 renewals. Six-year-olds have won 6 times, eight-year-olds 4 times, and five-year-olds twice (Espoir D’Allen and Katchit). Two nine-year-olds have won — Hurricane Fly and Rooster Booster.
Favourite record: The market leader has won 12 of 23 renewals (52%), the highest strike rate of any championship race at the meeting. They’ve placed 16 times from 24 total favourite runners. The average favourite SP is about 7/4. When the market has a strong view, it tends to be right.
Trainers: Henderson leads with 6 wins from 43 runners. Mullins has 5 from 39. Between them they account for nearly half the winners and have saddled over 80 runners. De Bromhead’s 2 wins (both Honeysuckle) came from just 7 runners, the best strike rate of the major yards.
Going: Good to Soft is the most common ground (12 editions), and all 12 have produced different winners, so there’s no pattern suggesting a particular type handles it better. The only Heavy renewal was 2024, won by the 2/5 favourite State Man.
What the Data Says
This is the race where you want to be backing quality. The 52% favourite strike rate tells you most of what you need to know — the best hurdler in training usually wins. Golden Ace at 25/1 in 2025 was a genuine shock, and Espoir D’Allen at 16/1 in 2019 before that, but those are the exceptions rather than the rule.
The average winning official rating of 163 is very high, confirming this is genuinely a race where the classiest horse tends to prevail. The combination of high favourite strike rate and high average OR makes this a race to keep things simple.
Henderson and Mullins between them have had 82 runners for 11 wins. Those are the stables to focus on. Henderson’s runners have placed 17 times from 43 — nearly 40% hitting the frame. Hardy Eustace’s wins in 2004 (33/1) and 2005 (7/2) for Dessie Hughes stand as a reminder that the Irish smaller yards can spring a surprise, but it doesn’t happen often.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.