Conditional Jockeys Hurdle

The Conditional Jockeys Hurdle is the penultimate race of the final day at the Cheltenham Festival. The race is a handicap hurdle for horses aged four years and older. Run over a distance of approximately 2 miles and 4 1/2 furlongs there is a total of nine hurdles to be jumped. Horses must be accompanied by a conditional jockey, which means a jump jockey who has not exceeded seventy-five wins in races under rules. The race was established in 2009 and is named after Martin Pipe, the national hunt trainer who retired in 2006 following a fantastic career. Pipe was Champion Trainer a brilliant fifteen times in his career, and recorded an impressive total of thirty-four wins at the Cheltenham Festival.

Trying To Sneak One Last Winner In The Festival

With the Conditional Jockeys Hurdle being the second-last race of the Cheltenham Festival, it will see punters looking to land more success on what has hopefully been a profitable four days in Gloucestershire. The race has only had three runnings, and thus it bares little point in looking for any significant betting trends. As per normal, this will be a tricky handicap rice to uncover and we will be looking for a good progressive horse like last year’s winner Sir Des Champs.

One thing that will be important to keep an eye on will be runners for David Pipe. The trainer will be looking to play all his cards and strike a winner in the race named after his father. In the inaugural running he had no less than seven runners. He has shown a great touch already this season with handicap wins, Dynaste being one that springs to mind with a most impressive win at Haydock when clearly being very well treated off his mark that day.

Sir Des Is 2011 Champ

Sir Des Champs took victory for trainer Willie Mullins last year, when an ultimately brilliant judged ride from conditional Emmet Mullins saw him come from a long way back to surge clear past the winning line. He stayed on very strongly, still having plenty to do two out, but found a little bit more and landed a great result for favourite backers and indeed the Irish.

Sir Des Champs has proved to be a classy type, maintaining his unbeaten record over jumps. His win in last year’s race put him 2/2 over hurdles and he stands at 2/2 over fences this season. He is one to look out for at this year’s Cheltenham festival, though he will need to step up again if he is to claim victory any of the major races.