The Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is a Grade 1 race over about 2 miles that opens the Cheltenham Festival on Tuesday. It’s the first chance for the novice hurdlers to prove themselves at the highest level, and it regularly produces future champions — Altior, Constitution Hill, Douvan and Vautour all started their Festival careers here.
Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Kopek Des Bordes | W P Mullins | P Townend | 5 | 4/6 |
| 2024 | Slade Steel | Henry de Bromhead | R Blackmore | 6 | 7/2 |
| 2023 | Marine Nationale | Barry Connell | M O’Sullivan | 6 | 9/2 |
| 2022 | Constitution Hill | N Henderson | N de Boinville | 5 | 9/4 |
| 2021 | Appreciate It | W P Mullins | P Townend | 7 | 8/11 |
| 2020 | Shishkin | N Henderson | N de Boinville | 6 | 6/1 |
| 2019 | Klassical Dream | W P Mullins | R Walsh | 5 | 6/1 |
| 2018 | Summerville Boy | T R George | N D Fehily | 6 | 9/1 |
| 2017 | Labaik | Gordon Elliott | J W Kennedy | 6 | 25/1 |
| 2016 | Altior | N Henderson | N de Boinville | 6 | 4/1 |
Key Trends
Age profile: Five and six-year-olds dominate. From 23 renewals, 9 winners were aged five and 12 were aged six. Only 2 seven-year-olds have won (Appreciate It in 2021 and Captain Cee Bee in 2008). Nothing older has managed it.
Favourite record: The market favourite has won 7 of 23 renewals (30%). They’ve placed (first four) in 14 of 29 total favourite runners, so roughly half the time the favourite hits the frame. The average SP of the favourite has been around 4/1, which is relatively generous for a Grade 1 — this race is often competitive.
Trainers: Willie Mullins has won this 7 times from 59 runners. That’s a 12% strike rate, which is decent for a race of this quality but nothing extraordinary — he saddles a lot. Nicky Henderson has 3 wins from 34 runners, Paul Nicholls 2 from 18, and Gordon Elliott 1 from 11.
Going: Good to Soft is comfortably the most common ground condition at the Festival, accounting for 12 of the 23 editions. Winners have come on every type of ground, from Good (5 winners) through to Heavy (Slade Steel in 2024). No strong bias either way.
What the Data Says
The winner profile in this race is surprisingly varied. Prices have ranged from 4/6 (Kopek Des Bordes) to 40/1 (Ebaziyan in 2007), with an average winning SP around 9/1. That’s wider than you might expect for a top-level novice race and reflects how often unexposed types improve sharply for this step up.
Mullins runners warrant respect simply by weight of numbers — 7 wins and 14 placings from 59 runners gives a place strike rate of nearly 24%. Henderson’s place record is arguably more notable: 17 placed runners from 34, exactly 50%. If you’re looking for each-way value, Henderson’s runners in this race consistently outperform.
The one thing that stands out from recent years is the prominence of Irish-trained winners. Since 2019, only Constitution Hill (2022) has won for a British yard. The Irish have taken 6 of the last 7 renewals.
One small sample caveat: the race rarely gets truly heavy ground, with only the 2024 edition (won by Slade Steel) run on Heavy. Drawing going conclusions from that single data point would be foolish.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.