Champion Hurdle Trends for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival

2025 Cheltenham Champion Hurdle Trends

Need some help finding the winner at Cheltenham betting sites of the 2025 edition of the Champion Hurdle? Well, look no further because our team of experts at Bookies.com have done the hard work for you by pinpointing the most critical trends and pointers from the last 10 renewals, in order to help you find the winner of the Cheltenham Festival's hurdling showpiece.

The last 10 winners:

• Were aged 5-9
• Had no headgear
• Won their last start
• Had taken part in a Grade 1 contest
• Had five or more lifetime runs over hurdles
• Last ran between 27 and 78 days ago
• Were unbeaten that season

Nine of the last 10 winners:

• Had previously run at Cheltenham (Espoir d'Allen)
• Had won a Grade 1 (Espoir d'Allen)
• Had run at least twice that season (Annie Power)

Eight of the last 10 winners:

• Were the betting favourite (Espoir d'Allen, Buveur d'Air)

Key Trials From the Last 10 Years

The Christmas Hurdle at Kempton has thrown up four winners in the last 10 years (Epatante, Buveur D'Air, Faugheen and Constitution Hill). The Nicky Henderson-trained Constitution Hill won this in 2023 but missed 2024 because of injury.

The Irish Champion Hurdle in February has thrown up three winners in the last four years (Honeysuckle twice and State Man), with both of those horses now three-time winners of that race.

The Matheson Hurdle, run at Leopardstown over the festive period, is also a strong Grade 1 hurdle. Sharjah, who went on to finish second in the 2020 and 2021 Champion Hurdles (brought down mid race in 2019), has won it four times but was beaten by Willie Mullins-trained stablemate State Man in 2022. He won in 2023 too, whilst Brighterdaysahead took the spoils in December 2024.

Trainer Trends

• Nicky Henderson is the man to follow in the Champion Hurdle with nine victories in his career, four of which have come since 2017.
• Willie Mullins has won the race five times, including last year with State Man, and has also saddled the runner-up in five of the last seven renewals.
• Henry De Bromhead won the race in consecutive years with Honeysuckle, whilst Gavin Cromwell is the only other trainer to have won the race in the last 10 years (Espoir d'Allen).

Jockey Trends

• Paul Townend, who is stable jockey at Willie Mullins' all-powerful yard, will get first choice on that yard’s biggest chance after riding State Man to victory in 2024.
• Rachael Blackmore became the first female rider to win the event in its 94-year history when winning on Honeysuckle in 2021, and repeated the feat in 2022.
• Nico de Boinville rode Constitution Hill home in 2023 and looks set to do so again this time despite a poor run on Iberico Lord last year.

How Did the Trends do Last Year?

Overwhelming 2/5 favourite State Man ticked all the right boxes last year and edged out Irish Point to win the race for the first time. The then-seven-year-old had won his previous four starts and won eight from his last nine Grade 1 runs, with the most recent coming 37 days before the win at Cheltenham.

He'd also previously run at Cheltenham, finishing a distant second to Constitution Hill in this race in 2023, so was well-equipped to go one better a year later.

Who Fits The Trends Best In 2025?

For the second time in three years, it's basically impossible to look past Constitution Hill. The 2023 winner is now unbeaten in 10 runs over hurdles, including eight Grade 1s and likely would've gone off as favourite in last year’s Champion Hurdle if not for injury.

The Nicky Henderson eight-year-old fits every major trend with two wins from two this season, the most recent of which came 45 days before this outing, and will almost certainly go off as odds-on favourite after romping home two years ago.

Brighterdaysahead also looks a strong fit with three wins from three this season, two of which were Grade 1s, and also ran at Cheltenham last year when he came second behind Golden Ace in the Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle.

Reigning champion State Man is certainly worth considering, too, given his history in this race and the fact he won the Irish Champion Hurdle in February, but isn't in the best of form with figures of 231 this season, having lost to Brighterdaysahead twice in that time.

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2024 Champion Hurdle Result