The Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle is one of the key races in the jumps season, and this year’s renewal is all set to be another fantastic race that could feature our very own Wendigo.
Since winning impressively at Ludlow back in November, trainer Jamie Snowden has targeted our jumps star at the Challow, and all being well he should be set to line up for the £100,000 race on Saturday 28th December.
As we prepare for this year’s renewal, we wanted to guide you through the race’s recent history, including some of the big-name winners over the years and some of the recent trends of the winners.
There are still shares available in Wendigo if you would like to get involved before the race, with shares available at just £60 – purchase yours HERE.
WENDIGO
- RC Syndicate l
- Jumps
- 5yo
- Gelding
- 4000 Shares
After winning two of his three bumper races last season, Wendigo has continued to impress and most recently won a £30,000 Novice Hurdle at Ludlow. Trained by Jamie Snowden, we have high hopes for Wendigo and hope he can progress to be a superstar for us!
HISTORY OF RACE
The race is named after the nearby village of Challow, located in Oxfordshire, and is run over a distance of 2 miles 4½ furlongs. Notable trainers to target the race include Paul Nicholls, who has won the race a record six times, Jonjo O’Neill (four-time winner) and Oliver Sherwood (three-time winner). The leading jockey in the race is Sir Anthony (AP) McCoy, who has ridden five winners in the race, closely followed by Harry Cobden, who has ridden the winner in each of the last four renewals.
BIG-NAME WINNERS
There have been plenty of National Hunt stars to have won the Challow Novices’ Hurdle, and it’s difficult to identify the best of those winners. A lot of horses to have won the race have gone on to further glory, but here’s our top three big-name winners over the years.
Denman
Where else to start but with one of the greatest ever racehorses – Denman. Paul Nicholls’ superstar had already won twice over hurdles before the Challow, and was sent off as the 5/2 favourite for the race. He could hardly have won it more impressively, with Ruby Walsh steering him to an easy 21 length victory. Commentator Simon Holt stated “This could be a future star here”, and he certainly wasn’t wrong!
Following the Challow, he finished runner-up at the Cheltenham Festival, before a glittering career over fences, that saw him win a trio of Grade 1’s, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2008. That Gold Cup victory was a fantastic performance, which was followed by a dominant victory off top weight in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in the 08/09 season. Denman was given known as ‘The Tank’, and these impressive performances proved how much of a superstar he was.
Reve De Sivola
After failing to win in his first season over hurdles, Reve De Sivola started his second hurdles campaign with a win in the Grade 2 Persian War Novices’ Hurdle, before stepping up to win the Challow in 2009. The race was seen to be a two-horse race in the betting, between Finian’s Rainbow (13/8 favourite) and Reve De Sivola (15/8), and the duo fought out a thrilling finish, along with 40/1 outsider Restless Harry and 22/1 shot Kennel Hill. It was Reve De Sivola who came out on top though, staying on powerfully to win by ½ length over runner-up Restless Harry, with Finian’s Rainbow a further ½ length behind in third.
The winner went on to land further Grade 1 success that season, in the Champion Novices’ Hurdle at Punchestown. The following season connections opted to send him over fences, where he progressed further to win a total of four Grade 1 races, including an incredible hat-trick of victories in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.
Champ
Named after top jockey AP McCoy, Champ came into the 2018 renewal of the Challow having won three of his four hurdle races, which was enough to see him go off as the even-money favourite for the Grade 1. Having travelled strongly and jumped well throughout, he eventually ran out a 2½ length winner over Getaway Trump, to give Nicky Henderson a second win in the race.
After the Challow, Champ went on to finish runner-up in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, before winning the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree in his final race of the season. Over the next five years, Champ went on to win another two Grade 1’s and a couple of Grade 2’s, accumulating over £460,000 in prize money, in what was a superb career and one that did his name justice.
LAST YEARS RACE
Last year’s renewal saw Paul Nicholls land a fourth successive renewal, with Captain Teague staying on powerfully to give his trainer a record sixth winner in the race. Sent off as the 2/1 favourite, Captain Teague raced prominently through the early stages of the race and was challenging for the lead two out. A poor jump over the penultimate fence made things harder than they should’ve been, and he didn’t find much once hitting the front, but he was always doing enough to win. He eventually ran out a 1½ length winner over the runner-up Lookaway, with the Jukebox Max a further neck behind in third.
RACE TRENDS
When you’re trying to find the winner of this year’s renewal, it can often pay to look at the trends of recent winners of the race. So with that in mind, we’ve taken a look at the last 12 years and highlighted some of the key trends to help whittle down the field.
- 11/12 winners were aged 5 or 6.
- 11/12 winners had already run at least twice over hurdles.
- 12/12 winners had already won at least once over hurdles.
- 12/12 winners had previously won over 2m 3f – 2m 5f.
- 11/12 winners had ran within the last 50 days.
- 9/12 winners were sent off as favourite.
- Just 4/12 winners had previously raced at Newbury before.
With trainer Jamie Snowden targeting Wendigo at this years renewal, we’re hopeful he can add his name to the impressive list of winners of the race. Shares are still available in Wendigo at just £60 HERE.
WENDIGO
- RC Syndicate l
- Jumps
- 5yo
- Gelding
- 4000 Shares
After winning two of his three bumper races last season, Wendigo has continued to impress and most recently won a £30,000 Novice Hurdle at Ludlow. Trained by Jamie Snowden, we have high hopes for Wendigo and hope he can progress to be a superstar for us!
