The Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle is run over about 2 miles 4 furlongs on the Friday of the Festival. It’s restricted to conditional (apprentice) jockeys, which gives it a distinctive character. The race has developed a reputation for producing future stars — Galopin Des Champs and Sir Des Champs both won this before going on to the highest level.
Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Wodhooh | Gordon Elliott | D J Gilligan | 5 | 9/2 |
| 2024 | Better Days Ahead | Gordon Elliott | D J Gilligan | 6 | 5/1 |
| 2023 | Iroko | O Greenall & J Guerriero | A P Kelly | 5 | 6/1 |
| 2022 | Banbridge | J P O’Brien | M M McDonagh | 6 | 12/1 |
| 2021 | Galopin Des Champs | W P Mullins | S F O’Keeffe | 5 | 8/1 |
| 2020 | Indefatigable | P R Webber | Rex Dingle | 7 | 25/1 |
| 2019 | Early Doors | J P O’Brien | Jonjo O’Neill Jr. | 6 | 5/1 |
| 2018 | Blow By Blow | Gordon Elliott | D Meyler | 7 | 11/1 |
| 2017 | Champagne Classic | Gordon Elliott | J J Slevin | 6 | 12/1 |
| 2016 | Ibis Du Rheu | P F Nicholls | Jack Sherwood | 5 | 14/1 |
Key Trends
Age profile: Six-year-olds have won 9 of 17 renewals (53%), followed by five-year-olds with 6 wins. Two seven-year-olds complete the picture. Youth dominates — nothing older than 7 has won.
Favourite record: The favourite has won just 1 of 17 (6%). They’ve placed 5 times from 18 total favourite runners. The average favourite SP of about 5/1 sounds reasonable, but the 6% win rate is one of the worst at the Festival.
Trainers: Gordon Elliott leads with 4 wins from 46 runners (9%). Mullins has 4 from 35 (11%). Joseph Patrick O’Brien has 2 from 8 (25% — the best strike rate). Nicholls has 2 from 27.
Going: Six editions on Good to Soft, 5 each on Good and Soft, and 1 on Heavy. No ground bias.
What the Data Says
The 6% favourite win rate is the worst of any Festival race in our data. That’s not a misprint — the favourite has won once in 17 runnings. This is a race where the market consistently fails to identify the winner, which makes sense given the variables: young horses, conditional jockeys with limited big-race experience, and big fields.
The five and six-year-old dominance (15 of 17 winners) is clear-cut. These are young, potentially well-handicapped hurdlers with improvement to come. Nothing older than 7 has won.
Joseph Patrick O’Brien’s 2 from 8 (25%) is the strongest trainer record from a decent sample. His runners have included Banbridge and Early Doors, both of whom went off at reasonably accessible prices.
The Galopin Des Champs angle is worth remembering: he won this in 2021 and went on to win two Gold Cups. Sir Des Champs (2011) also went on to bigger things. Don Poli (2014) ran well in multiple Gold Cups too. The Martin Pipe can identify genuine talent, even if the horses are lightly raced at the time.
The average winning SP of about 13/1 makes this a race for each-way punters. Elliott and Mullins runners merit a look on numbers alone, but O’Brien’s strike rate from a smaller sample is noteworthy.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.