Challow Hurdle betting

Events / Editor / 20 October 2007 / Leave a Comment

Run at Newbury's December fixture, this two-mile-five-furlong Grade 1 contest always attracts a classy field popular with the betting public and often develops into a hotly contested event, both on the course and in the betting ring.

This is a solid race for horses prominent in the betting market with the longest-priced winner this decade being Brewster at odds of just 3/1; the other winners have all been shorter, and some returned at odds-on.

In 2006, Jonjo O'Neill's Wichita Lineman took the prize before going on to Cheltenham glory, so the race does have some influence on the ante-post odds betting lists for the Festival meeting three months later. O'Neill also sent out Coolnagorma to score in 2002, while champion jockey Tony McCoy has an excellent record in the race, winning it three times from the last five runnings.

The race is considered a good trial for both the Brit Insurance Hurdle and for the Royal & Sun Alliance Hurdle and can have considerable influence on the ante-post odds betting lists for those races.