Sometimes referred to as the Unibet Champion Hurdle due to sponsorship, this race is 2 miles and half a furlong long. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham racecourse and for runners who are aged four years or older. The race is always on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.

It is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race and it is the biggest hurdling event of the year. Some of the sports greatest ever hurdlers have won the Champion Hurdle. On top of this, it makes up the final part of the Triple Crown of Hurdling. The other two races of this are the Fighting Firth Hurdle and the Christmas Hurdle.

The race has been going since 1927 and once in 1932 it had a field of just three horses, the smallest it’s ever had. The shortest ever priced winner of the Champion Hurdle Sir Ken, who on his second time of winning the race, was priced at 2/5!

With this being the most prestigious hurdle event in the racing calendar, it brings it a big purse. Last year’s total prize fund was £450,000 and £253,215 of that went to Espoir D’Allen for winning the 2019 Champion Hurdle for trainer Gavin Cromwell, owner JP McManus and with jockey Mark Walsh on board.

When the race was first run back in 1927, Blaris was the winner at 11/10 and was rode by George Duller. Winning this race earned them £365, which is way off now but still a fantastic amount then.

Horse owner JP McManus won his first Champion Hurdle back in 1998 with three-time winner Istabraq. They went into the race at the 3/1 favourite and won by 12 lengths. This landed him a staggering £137,420!

Hatton’s Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War, See You Then and Istabraq are all notable winners. They have each won the race three times, a feat the all achieved in consecutive years. As a result they will go down in history as some of the greatest hurdlers ever.

Faugheen is another notable winner. He won the Christmas Hurdle twice as well as the Champion Hurdle. They are two huge hurdle races, showing just how good Faugheen was at his peak. He was also voted the Irish Horse of the Year in 2015.

Another well-known winner of the Champion Hurdle is Hurricane Fly. He won this race twice in 2011 and in 2013. Hurricane Fly was the first horse in 38 years to regain his Champion Hurdle title. He held the record for the most Grade 1 wins until 2019 when Winx overtook him.

As this race is one of the biggest at the Cheltenham Festival there are lots of records. Owners and trainers like to bring horses back to try and win the race multiple times as it is the pinnacle of the hurdling calendar.

In terms of the most successful horse, that’s split between five different horses. All have won the race on three consecutive occasions. Hatton’s Grace was the first to win in 1949-1951. The most recent three time winner was Istabraq in 1998-2000.

The leading jockey is another shared accolade in this race. Tim Molony won it four times, once with Hatton’s Grace and three times with Sir Ken. Ruby Walsh is the other four time winner. He won it with Hurricane Fly twice, Faugheen and Annie Power.

Nicky Henderson was the leading trainer. He has won it a staggering seven times with See You Then, Punjabi and Buveur D’air. His first win came in 1985 and his second in 2018, spanning a period of 33 years.

As mentioned before JP McManus has won it eight times, including three times with the legendary Istabraq. This firmly puts him as the leading owner.