Champion Hurdle 2009 Betting Guide
The Champion Hurdle is the third biggest race in the National Hunt Calendar, behind the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. It takes place on the Tuesday, 11th March 2009, which is the first afternoon of the Cheltenham Festival meeting. The Champion Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race for four-year-olds and above and is run over a distance of 2 miles and 110 yards on the old Course at Cheltenham; it takes in eight hurdles.
This year will be the 79th running but you will note by looking at the Champion Hurdle History that there have been many interesting results. There is also a page dedicated to the Champion Hurdle legends, that is well worth a read.
The Champion Hurdle was first ran in 1927. The race is sponsored by the Smurfit Kappa group and has been since 1990. In 2009 the race will have prize money of nearly £400,000.
2009 Champion Hurdle Race Result
As expected the 2009 Champion Hurdle lived up to its reputation of being one of the great races of the National Hunt season. It had been expected that it would be won by the favourite, Binocular, but he only managed third place behind stablemate, Punjabi. See 2009 Champion Hurdle Result for the full story.
Betting on the Champion Hurdle
2009 Champion Hurdle Odds
As you may know, the Champion Hurdle betting is a huge market and millions are backed each year. The last couple of years has belonged to the Bookmakers however, with Sublimity winning the Champion Hurdle 2007 at 16/1 and Katchit winning last year at 10/1. That said it is often a good race for favourites and the classier horses. A prime example of this was the win in the Champion Hurdle 2006 for Brave Inca who battled home when 7/4 favourite. All the rage this year has centered around the Nicky Henderson stable star, Binocular and he is a hot favourite to win the race this year. Take a look at our Champion Hurdle Form Guide for some ideas and you also might want to take advantage of our Champion Hurdle tips. Finally you can look at the current Champion Hurdle Odds here.
Champion Hurdle Runners and Riders
Like in any horse race there are always specialists either on the horse or who have prepared the horse for the race. Most of those specialists will be at the Festival this and several will have an influence in the Champion Hurdle. The Champion Hurdle Top Trainers gives you a insight to some of those, with a little background information as does the Champion Hurdle top jockeys.
The Champion Hurdle runners and riders will be updated at every declaration and will assist you when making selections for the big race.
