Cheltenham Festival: Everything you need to know about the 2024 Triumph Hurdle

The first race of the festival’s final day is the Triumph Hurdle. The race was originally held at Hurst Park in Surrey but became a part of the festival in 1968.

The two mile race is exclusively for four-year-olds. Previous winners have gone on to achieve great things, four went on to Champion Hurdle glory while 2014 winner Tiger Roll went on to win back-to-back Grand Nationals.

Nicky Henderson is the leading trainer in this race with seven wins, despite not producing a winner since 2015.

When is it? 

The race has a scheduled start time of 1.30pm on March 15, 2024. 

How can I watch?

The race will be broadcast live on ITV and Racing TV, you will also be able to stream it through the SBK app.

The Runners

Sir Gino - 2.04
Kargese - 6.0
Majborough - 6.8
Givemefive - 8.0
Salvator Mundi - 8.6
Bunting - 12.0
Storm Heart - 14.0
Nurburgring - 14.0
Salver - 19.0
Ethical Diamond - 19.5
32.0 - BAR

Who should you back?

Fortunately for punters, this isn’t a race usually won by outsiders. 14 of the last 19 winners have come from the front four in the market - with none of the last three winners being bigger than 3.0.

If you wanted to look at trainer form in this race then the fact that Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliot are responsible for five of the last six winners could see you move away from Sir Gino. As with most races at the festival, Mullins backers aren't short of options. He trains Majborough, Kargese, Givemefive, Salvator Mundi and Storm Heart from the top of the market alone.

Sir Gino fans might be troubled by the fact that only once has an odds on favourite won this race and that was back in 1974. Despite the favourite winning the last two renewals it isn’t always the place you want to be only coming out victorious in nine of the last 36. 

Each of the last 25 winners had run between 18 and 55 days before the race, this would appear to rule out Salvator Mundi and Nurburgring. Ten of the last 11 winners have never finished outside the top two in any previous hurdle run in Great Britain or Ireland. If this form was to continue it would make it hard to back Majborough. 

Verdict:

I think Sir Gino has to be the selection here, even at a fairly prohibitive price. He beat the well fancied Burdett Road on Trials Day by 11 lengths and his previous outing this season saw him win by 14 lengths at Kempton. He is also trained Nicky Henderson, the most successful trainer in the race’s history.