Champion Hurdle Betting 2012

The Champion Hurdle is the showpiece race on the opening day of the Cheltenham festival. Cheltenham Hurdle betting 2012 will be one of the most active markets of the whole festival because some of the most talented horses in National Hunt racing take part in the event.

Champion Hurdle betting 2012 will be similar to many other markets at the Cheltenham festival in the respect that the difference in odds between the top horses is very subtle. There will be a favourite but the pack of six or seven leading contenders for the Champion Hurdle are separated by only six or seven points on the betting market.

Champion Hurdle Race

The Champion Hurdle Race is a Grade 1 National Hunt contest which is open to horses aged four-years-old and older. Even though the classification is open to four-year-old horses, there has not been a four-year-old winner since 1942 just before the race was stopped due to the Second World War.

The race is run over two miles and 110 yards which means it is one of the shorter distance races at the Cheltenham festival as opposed to a race in excess of three miles such as the Gold Cup. This makes slightly easier in the respect that there are fewer hurdles, eight, to be jumped during the course of the race.

Champion Hurdle Betting

Hurricane Fly is the current horse dominating the Horse Racing Betting market for Champion Hurdle betting. Hurricane Fly is the defending champion and is the favourite for the race because of a record which currently reads ten wins from a career total of 11 races.

Grandouet is the current second favourite in the Champion Hurdle betting market for the simple reason that the horse doesn't have the career experience of Hurricane Fly. Grandouet has three wins, a second place and a third place finish from seven races. This includes three trips at Cheltenham where the horse has finished no lower than third in any race.

Leading Contenders for the Champion Hurdle

There are a number of leading contenders for the Champion Hurdle which all have a good chance of doing but are priced slightly longer in the Champion Hurdle betting market. These leading contenders could be good horses to use Free Bets on during the four days of the festival.

A great example is French horse Binocular which is one of the most experienced animals due to take part in the race. Bincoular has race 16 times with nine wins and has only finished lower than third in a race twice during a long career. Bincoular is slightly younger than the big favourite for the race, Hurricane Fly.

Another of the leading contenders for the race is Irish horse Zarkandar. The only reason this horse is not up there on the market with the favourites is because this is a four-year-old. The horse has a 100 per cent win rate from all career races but the trend which shows there hasn’t been a four-year-old winner since the 1940s is working against the animal.

Champion Hurdle Rank Outsider

There are some horses that have plodded along through good careers that will be seen as a Champion Hurdle rank outsider. It is these horses that could turn out to be the best each way bet of the race. A brilliant Champion Hurdle rank outsider is Menorah; six-years-old, six wins and three second places from 11 races.