Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle 

The Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle is one of the oldest races on the schedule for the Cheltenham Festival. The Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle is a Grade 3 contest over two miles and one furlong.

The Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle is one of the richest Grade 3 races on the National Hunt circuit with a prize purse of just under £100,000 available to the winners and places for the race.

The race is popular with the Cheltenham crowds because it comes only two races before the Cheltenham Gold Cup and wets the appetite.

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Details of the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle

Details of the County Hurdle are fairly basic and easy to understand. The race is open to five-year-old horses and older and contains a total of eight hurdles to be jumped in total.

Handicap details of the Vincent OíBrien Handicap Hurdle are similar to every other handicap race at the Cheltenham Festival. Stronger, higher quality and lighter horses all have to carry handicaps as a way of making the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle a fairer race.

History of the County Hurdle

The history of the County Hurdle started way back in 1920. The length and main specifications of the race have not changed throughout the history of the County Hurdle.

The race is named after Vincent O'Brien who was a successful trainer. OíBrien retired from his profession in 1994 with a total of 23 winners of races at the Cheltenham Festival.

Up until 2009, the history of the County Hurdle saw that the race was the last contest of the entire Cheltenham Festival. However, Cheltenham Festival officials redesigned the order of the races and the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle is now second on day four.

Leading Figures in the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle

There are some individuals that have been more successful in the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle than others. Amazingly, no horse has won the race on more than one occasion in the history of the County Hurdle.

There are two leading figures in the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle. Ruby Walsh is the leading jockey with a total of three winners; Sporazene, Desert Quest and American Trilogy.

Paul Nicholls is the leading trainer in the history of the County Hurdle. He has trained three winners, the same three winners that Walsh has ridden to glory.

History of the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle

The history of the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle has seen the race abandoned more times than any other race at the Cheltenham Festival.

There was no race in 1947 because of excessive snow and frost. The races in 1949 and 1955 were called off for the same reason.

There was no race in 1975 because of a waterlogged track and in 1978 an excessive amount of snow fell making running impossible.

The only time the race has been called off in the history of the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle not to do with weather was in 2001 due to the foot and mouth crisis.