Which Novice Race Produces Most Champion Hurdle Horses?

As regular visitors to OLBG race days would expect, there are always many exciting conversations between members at the course. 

One that sticks in the mind was which novice hurdle race provides the most Champion Hurdle winners. Three members were involved, and none of us were exactly sure of the answer. One day, someone will have to look at the stats, we agreed. 

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One member has decided to do just that. The last ten years' races were reviewed, and all horses that finished in the first three were tracked to the following festival.

Although not a novice hurdle race, the Champion Bumper was also included as an obvious race for horses to participate in as their first race at the festival.

• Supreme
• Triumph Hurdle
• Bumper
• Neptune

Although not a novice hurdle race, the Champion Bumper was also included as an obvious race for horses to participate in as their first race at the festival. 

Horses that finished in the Champion Bumper were not that successful the following year, but there were some notable exceptions. 

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These included Al Ferof, who was second in the Bumper behind Cue Card in 2010 and went on to finish first in the Supreme the following year, and Shaneshill, who was second in the 2014 Champion Bumper and finished in the same position in the Supreme of the following year.

Rite Of Passage was third in the Bumper in 2009 and finished in the same position in the following year's Neptune. The success story of the Bumper in the last ten years was 2012 winner Champagne Fever, who then went on to win the Supreme the following year. 

The Supreme is the obvious race to go to from the Bumper being over the same trip; the same logic also suggests that from the Supreme, the logical next step is to hurdle in open company in the Champion Hurdle.

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However, only three horses that placed in the Supreme over the last ten years went on to place in the Champion Hurdle the following year. 

The 2010 winner, Binocular, was third in the 2009 race, having been second in the Supreme the previous year. 

The 2013 Supreme was won by Champagne Fever, followed by My Tent Or Yours and Jezki (the latter being third). Those two horses were first and second in the following year's Champion Hurdle, with the placings reversed. 

The most common race for horses placed in the Supreme in the following year was the Arkle, which was won in 2012 and 2016 by horses placed in the Supreme.

The Triumph Hurdle is another race that is often a horse's first festival experience. 

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Although it doesn't have the same reputation as the Supreme, it is a better source of horses placed in the Champion Hurdle. Katchit (2008), Celestial Halo (2009), Zaynow (2010) and Countrywide Flame (2013) all achieved places in the Champion Hurdle, having won the Triumph Hurdle the previous year.

Surprisingly, the best source of horses placed in the Champion Hurdle is the slightly longer novice hurdle, the Neptune Investment Management Hurdle. 

Over the ten years, five horses were placed in the Neptune and then placed in the Champion Hurdle.

Peddlers Cross (2010) and The New One (2013) both won the Neptune and then achieved places in the following year's Champions Hurdle, whilst Nicholls Canyon repeated his 3rd placed finish in the 2015 Neptune in last year's Champions Hurdle.

The real superstar alumni of the Neptune are Rock On Ruby (in 2012) and Faugheen (in 2015), both winners of the Champion Hurdle, having been at least placed in the previous year's Neptune.

Buveur D'air was narrowly the favourite for the Champion Hurdle in 2017  having been third in the Supreme in 2016