Aintree Hurdle 10 year Trends
The Aintree Hurdle is a Grade 1 race run over 2 miles 4 furlongs. It was traditionally run on Grand National Saturday but has now switched position with the 3m Liverpool Hurdle and will be run on Thursday.
The race has a prestigious roll of honour including the likes of Comedy of Errors, Night Nurse, Morley Street, Monksfield, Dawn Run and Istabraq. Al Eile was a three time winner between 2005 and 2008.
Oscar Whisky won back to back hurdles in 2011 and 2012 but failed to complete a hatrick in 2013 with Zarkandar winning for the Ruby Walsh/ Paul Nicholls combo. The New One finished second in this in his Novice season and went one better in 2014. Jezki won in 2015 probably being the beneficiary of Artic Fire’s last flight fall. Annie Power followed up her Champion Hurdle win here last year.
Aintree Hurdle Winners 2006-2016
| Year | Form | Horse | LTO | OR | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 2016 | 11 | Annie Power | 23 | 162 | 8 | R Walsh | W P Mullins | 4-9F |
| 2015 | 12234 | Jezki | 30 | 168 | 7 | A P McCoy | Mrs J Harrington | 3-1 |
| 2014 | 1123 | The New One | 23 | 167 | 6 | S Twiston -Davies | N Twiston-Davies | 4-9 |
| 2013 | 1114 | Zarkandar | 23 | 167 | 6 | Ruby Walsh | P F Nicholls | 11-2 |
| 2012 | F1115 | Oscar Whisky | 30 | 167 | 7 | Barry Geraghty | N J Henderson | 9-4 |
| 2011 | 113 | Oscar Whisky | 25 | 165 | 6 | Barry Geraghty | N J Henderson | 6-1 |
| 2010 | 112 | Khyber Kim | 25 | 169 | 8 | Paddy Brennan | N A Twiston-Davies | 7-2 |
| 2009 | 121 | Solwhit | 49 | 140 | 5 | Davy Russell | Charles Byrnes | 6-1 |
| 2008 | 3213 | Al Eile | 36 | 161 | 8 | Timmy Murphy | John Queally | 11-4 |
| 2007 | 004 | Al Eile | 107 | – | 7 | Timmy Murphy | John Queally | 12-1 |
| 2006 | 12F | Asian Maze | 25 | – | 7 | Ruby Walsh | Tom Mullins | 4-1 |
Aintree Hurdle Winner Profile 2003-2016
Age: No strong stat. The last 7 winners were aged between 6 and 8. There have been only 3 five year old winners since 1980.
Trainer/Jockey : Irish trained horses have done well in this, winning 8 of the last 13 renewals. Ruby Walsh has each ridden the Aintree Hurdle winner four times since 2002. The Henderson/Geraghty combo have won back to back in 2011/12.
Starting Price: Only 4 favourites have won in the last 10 with overall numbers 2 0 1/2 4 3 7 F 2 1 F 1 The winners market position was 1 4 8 1 3 2 3 2 3 1 2 1 over the period. Al Eile in 2005 and 2007 has been the only winner priced greater than 10/1.
Last Run: 12 out of 13 ran between 17 and 49 days beforehand with 10 of the last 14 winners running at Cheltenham ( 8 Champion Hurdle, 1 World Hurdle, 1 Coral Cup) but only Annie power won there. Apart From Annie only Solwit won last time out in the last decade.
Trial Races: The fate of Champion Hurdle winners in the race has been mixed. Since 1984 9 horses have attempted the double with only 4 succeeding. There have been several multiple winners. Oscar Whisky,Daring Run, Aonoch, Danoli all won twice. Al Eile and Monksfield recorded three wins and Morley Street won four times.
