County Handicap Hurdle Betting Tips – Expert Predictions

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The County Hurdle is the premium 2m handicap run at the Cheltenham Festival. The race often attracts a competitive field and winners must be able to handle the hustle and bustle of what is traditionally one of the largest fields of the week. Our experts at GG have produced their County Handicap Hurdle tips and predictions for the race to aid you in your search for the winner.

Andrew Mount’s County Hurdle Tips

Awaiting tips…

Matty Sutcliffe’s County Hurdle Tips

Awaiting tips…

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County Handicap Hurdle Bookmaker Odds – Race 2, Friday 14th March 2:10

The County Hurdle engages a mix of proven handicappers and inexperienced novices, so we will not know the field for the 2025 running for a while. Below is the 2024 County Hurdle field.

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All About The McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle in 2024

Sponsored by the McCoy Contractors for the second time, the County Hurdle takes place over 2m1f of Cheltenham’s New Course. The race tends to attract a strong field of 20+ runners, with a combination of experienced handicappers and unexposed novices making it one of the toughest puzzles of the week to decipher.

Whilst it is tough to predict exactly who will be making the line-up until final declarations are declared, the nature of the handicap often sees horses who have progressed throughout the season taking on less experienced types who may have a bit more in hand off their ratings.

The Dan Skelton team have enjoyed notable success in the County Hurdle in recent years, sending out Superb Story (2016), Mohaayed (2018),Ch’tibello (2019) and Faivoir (2023) to land the contest.

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Qualifications/Trends 

The McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle is open to horses aged 5yo or older and – barring incident – requires the field to jump eight hurdles over the 2m1f distance of the New Course.

Cheltenham’s New Course is traditionally seen to provide a greater stamina test than that of the Old Course, and it can see horses that go for home too soon swallowed up in the dash to the line – as such, anything held up for a late run should be feared.

The Willie Mullins and Dan Skelton yards have proven particularly potent in the County Hurdle in recent years, with all but one renewal from 2015-2022 going to Skelton or Mullins.

Irish trainer Peter Fahey broke that sequence when sending out Belfast Banter to score in 2021, and this is a race where the Irish have done well down the years – with the likes of Arctic Fire (2017), Saint Roi (2020) and State Man (2022) all scoring for Irish yards.

Although 2021 winner Belfast Banter sneaked into the race off a bottom weight of just 10st, weight hasn’t proved a barrier to the success in the County Hurdle, with 2017 winner Arctic Fire scoring off top weight in 2017. Four of the last eight renewals have been won by horses weighing 11st or higher.

Favourites had previously had a particularly poor record in the County Hurdle, with no horse that occupied favouritism going on to land the spoils since 4/1J Desert Quest took the race for Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh in 2006. However, that changed in 2022 as State Man justified his short odds to win emphatically.

This is a race that can throw up a big odds winner though, with recent winners of the race coming home at 25/1, 33/1 and even a huge 50/1!

Apprentice and conditional riders value for their claim can be seen to big race success at the Cheltenham Festival, yet the County Hurdle has been a race traditionally more for the professionals, with only Bridget Andrews (Mohaayed, 2018) and Katie Walsh (Thousand Stars, 2010) scoring for claiming riders in recent years.

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2024 County Handicap Hurdle Prize Money

This race is often one of the most valuable handicaps run at the Festival. Last year’s connections of Faivoir took home just over £56,000.

The prize pot for the 2024 renewal is £100,000.

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County Handicap Hurdle History

The County Handicap Hurdle is one of the longest standing handicaps at the Festival, having been incepted as far back as 1920.

The race was for many years contested as the last race of the entire Festival and therefore for many gained a reputation for being the ‘getting out stakes’. The County Handicap Hurdle has held many sponsors throughout the years and is now run in the name of McCoy Contractors, an engineering company based in Warwickshire. 

For over twenty years the race was run in the name Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle, in name of the legendary Irish trainer, who trained no less than six Derby winners, three successive Grand Nationals and 23 Cheltenham Festival winners.

The County Handicap Hurdle is seen by many as a springboard to future Graded success, and therefore it is no real surprise that no horses has managed to win the race more than once. 

Cheltenham Festival specialist rider Ruby Walsh is the winning most jockey in the history of the County Handicap Hurdle, having taken four renewals from 2004 to 2011 his victories coming aboard Sporazene, Desert Quest, American Trilogy and Final Approach. Paul Townend could equal that record if he wins this year’s renewal. 

All three of Paul Townend’s winners were trained by Willie Mullins (as well as one of Ruby Walsh’s winners), so it’s no surprise to see that he has trained the most winners in the history of the race. He pulled further clear with a sixth win in the race last year, as State Man stayed on strongly to win going away. 

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Winners since 2000

Year	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Odds
2000	Master Tern	Tony Dobbin	Jonjo O’Neill	9/2F
2001	VOID	VOID	VOID	VOID
2002	Rooster Booster	Richard Johnson	Philip Hobbs	8/1
2003	Spirit Leader	Barry Geraghty	Jessica Harrington	10/1
2004	Sporazene	Ruby Walsh	Paul Nicholls	7/1J
2005	Fontanesi	Timmy Murphy	Martin Pipe	16/1
2006	Desert Quest	Ruby Walsh	Paul Nicholls	4/1J
2007	Pedrobob	Philip Carberry	Tony Mullins	12/1
2008	Silver Jaro	Noel Fehily	Tom Hogan	50/1
2009	American Trilogy	Ruby Walsh	Paul Nicholls	20/1
2010	Thousand Stars	Katie Walsh	Willie Mullins	20/1
2011	Final Approach	Ruby Walsh	Willie Mullins	10/1
2012	Alderwood	Tony McCoy	Thomas Mullins	20/1
2013	Ted Veale	Bryan Cooper	Tony Martin	10/1
2014	Lac Fontana	Daryl Jacob	Paul Nicholls	11/1
2015	Wicklow Brave	Paul Townend	Willie Mullins	25/1
2016	Superb Story	Harry Skelton	Dan Skelton	8/1
2017	Arctic Fire	Paul Townend	Willie Mullins	20/1
2018	Mohaayed	Bridget Andrews	Dan Skelton	33/1
2019	Ch’tibello	Harry Skelton	Dan Skelton	12/1
2020	Saint Roi	Barry Geraghty	Willie Mullins	11/2
2021	Belfast Banter	Kevin Sexton	Peter Fahey	33/1
2022	State Man	Paul Townend	Willie Mullins	11/4F
2023	Faivoir	Bridget Andrews	Dan Skelton	33/1

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Cheltenham Festival Racing Schedule

Time	Race
1:30	The JCB Triumph Hurdle	Read Tip
2:10	County Handicap Hurdle	Read Tip
2:50	Albert Bartlett  Novices’ Hurdle	Read Tip
3:30	Cheltenham Gold Cup	Read Tip
4:10	Hunters’ Steeple Chase	Read Tip
4:50	Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase	Read Tip
5:30	Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle	Read Tip