The Pertemps Network Final is a handicap hurdle over 3 miles on the Thursday of the Festival. To qualify, horses must have run in one of the qualifying rounds during the season. The qualification system adds an extra layer to the puzzle.
Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Doddiethegreat | N Henderson | B S Hughes | 9 | 25/1 |
| 2024 | Monmiral | P F Nicholls | H Cobden | 7 | 25/1 |
| 2023 | Good Time Jonny | A J Martin | L McKenna | 8 | 9/1 |
| 2022 | Third Wind | H Morrison | T J O’Brien | 8 | 25/1 |
| 2021 | Mrs Milner | Paul Nolan | B J Cooper | 6 | 12/1 |
| 2020 | Sire Du Berlais | Gordon Elliott | B J Geraghty | 8 | 10/1 |
| 2019 | Sire Du Berlais | Gordon Elliott | B J Geraghty | 7 | 4/1 |
| 2018 | Delta Work | Gordon Elliott | D N Russell | 5 | 6/1 |
| 2017 | Presenting Percy | Patrick G Kelly | D N Russell | 6 | 11/1 |
| 2016 | Mall Dini | Patrick G Kelly | D N Russell | 6 | 14/1 |
Key Trends
Age profile: Eight-year-olds lead with 7 wins from 22 renewals. Six-year-olds have 6 wins, seven-year-olds 3. Nine-year-olds have 4 wins, and there are single wins from a five-year-old and a ten-year-old. A wide spread.
Favourite record: The favourite has won just 2 of 22 (9%). They’ve placed 9 times from 26 total favourite runners. The average favourite SP of about 6/1 reflects the competitive nature. This is a dreadful race for favourite backers.
Trainers: Gordon Elliott leads with 3 wins from 24 runners (12.5%). Henderson and David Pipe each have 2 wins, as does Jonjo O’Neill. Patrick Kelly had 2 from a small number of runners (Presenting Percy and Mall Dini).
Going: Good ground has produced 9 winners, Good to Soft 8, and Soft 5. A fairly even spread with no Heavy edition.
What the Data Says
Three of the last four winners went off at 25/1. The average winning SP of nearly 19/1 makes this one of the hardest handicaps of the meeting. The 9% favourite win rate reinforces the point. If you’re looking for value, you’ll find it here — the difficulty is identifying which of the 20+ runners will provide it.
Sire Du Berlais’ back-to-back wins in 2019-20 were remarkable for a handicapper. He later won the Stayers’ Hurdle at 33/1, proving that this race can identify a horse with serious ability that’s somehow slipped under the radar.
Delta Work (2018) and Presenting Percy (2017) both went on to compete at the very top level. The Pertemps regularly unearths a horse of much higher quality than the race implies.
Gordon Elliott has the best record among active trainers with 3 wins from 24 runners. Henderson has 2 from 31, and Pipe had 2 from 27. O’Neill has 2 from 32. No trainer really dominates — this is wide open.
The qualification system means horses need to have been prepared specifically for this race, which gives an edge to yards that target it systematically. Elliott seems to do this better than most.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.