The Triple Crown of Hurdling is awarded to a horse that wins all three of the open, two-mile Grade 1 Hurdling races in any given English National Hunt season:
From 2006 to 2010, [1] the World Bet Exchange (WBX) put up a £1,000,000 bonus [2] [3] for any horse that wins the Triple Crown. WBX offered the prize, the richest in hurdling history. [4] The bonus was split among the winning horse's connections as follows: [5]
Before 2023, the only horse to win all three races in one season was Kribensis, a grey Henbit gelding, trained by Sir Michael Stoute in 1989–90. [6] Since the WBX bonus was introduced, only Punjabi and Go Native came close to claiming the prize, each winning two of the three races. After the bonus was withdrawn, their achievements were matched by My Tent Or Yours and Faugheen. However, in the 2022/2023 season, the breath-taking Bay gelding Constitution Hill, trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Nico de Boinville, swept all three races and claimed the Triple Crown for owner Michael Buckley.
Punjabi was the first horse who came closest of winning the WBX bonus. After narrowly beating the former champion hurdler Sublimity by a head in the 2008 Fighting Fifth Hurdle, Punjabi fell heavily in the 2008 Christmas Hurdle at the second-last flight while vying for the lead. Three months later, Punjabi held off the late rally of Celestial Halo to win the 2009 Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle as a 22/1 outsider.
His trainer, Nicky Henderson, was left to regret what might have been: "He was the forgotten horse. We'd have won a £1 million bonus if he hadn't fallen in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. He would have won I think. He was cantering. Anyway this makes up for it." [7] Punjabi's owner, Raymond Tooth, later described Punjabi's fall at Kempton as, "...probably the most expensive fall in the history of racing." [8]
Without his normal jockey Paul Carberry, [9] Go Native entered the 2009 Fighting Fifth Hurdle as a 25-1 long-shot. Go Native and jockey Davy Condon went on to win the race by 2.5 lengths over Sublimity. Paul Carberry was quoted as saying: It wasn't a surprise to me. It looked tough on paper, but we know how good he is. [9]
Go Native, owned by the Docado Syndicate, entered the Christmas Hurdle as the 5-2 second favourite (behind Binocular), [10] and went on to secure a narrow victory over Starluck. [11]
A win in the 2010 Cheltenham Festival for Go Native would have made him the first horse to win the WBX bonus. Over £205,000 was wagered on WBX for the 2009-10 Triple Crown to be won, the market was backed in from a high of 49/1 before the first leg to a low of 3.8/1 prior to the Champion Hurdle. [12] With jockey Paul Carberry set to ride Go Native, Meade said of his horse: He's in great order and I couldn't be happier with him. It's all systems go. He looks great, he had a little breeze out on the track and he was nice and fresh. His last piece of work was pretty good all right, we were very happy with it. [13] Unfortunately, Go Native was unable to clear the second hurdle cleanly and could not recover, finishing the race in 10th place. [14] [15]
Winners of the Triple Crown |
Winners of 2 out of the 3 Triple Crown races that includes the Champion Hurdle |
Winners of the Fighting Fifth and Christmas Hurdle |
Barry Geraghty is a retired Irish jockey. He is the second most successful jockey of all time at the Cheltenham Festival.
The Champion Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 2 miles and ½ furlong, and during its running there are eight hurdles to be jumped. The race is the last leg of the Triple Crown of Hurdling and is scheduled to take place each year on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival in March.
The Christmas Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Kempton Park over a distance of about 2 miles, and during its running there are eight hurdles to be jumped. The race is the second leg of the Triple Crown of Hurdling and is scheduled to take place each year during the King George VI Chase meeting on Boxing Day.
Nicholas John Henderson is a British racehorse trainer. He has been British jump racing Champion Trainer six times.
Paul Carberry is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey.
World Bet Exchange (WBX) was a person-to-person betting exchange based in Notting Hill Gate, London in the United Kingdom, and licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission. WBX.com was founded in 2002 by Malcolm Gray but did not officially launch until November, 25th, 2006. In an interview prior to launch, Gray was quoted as saying: "In an industry where the current market leader has a virtual monopoly, we believe the arrival of WBX will put every exchange player back in control. We will continually seek to offer a vibrant, exciting and innovative alternative to Betfair, and we hope this will promote healthy rivalry." On 16 March 2015 the company announced that it was shutting, effective 5pm the same day.
Punjabi is a British Thoroughbred racehorse, born to sire, Komatie and dam, Competa. Punjabi started racing as a three-year-old in 2005. He won his first race, a Class 6, in May 2006 at Newcastle Racecourse in Newcastle, England.
Kribensis was an Irish thoroughbred racehorse, born to sire, Henbit and dam, Aquaria. The horse was owned by Sheikh Mohammed and trained by Sir Michael Stoute. Kribensis gave Sheikh Mohammed his first Cheltenham Festival win when he won the Triumph Hurdle in 1988.
Sublimity was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse whose Flat racing and hurdling career was highlighted in 2007 when he won the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. By Selkirk and out of Fig Tree Drive, Sublimity is owned by the late Bill Hennessy and trained by his son Robert Alan Hennessy in Ratoath, County Meath, Ireland.
Katchit was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse, the peak of whose flat racing and hurdling career came in 2008 when, against the odds, he won the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Katchit was a moderate flat racer, winning only once in sixteen races. In his first two seasons as a hurdler however, he showed great improvement, winning ten times between September 2006 and March 2008. He won the Triumph Hurdle in 2007 and the Championship a year later. No Triumph Hurdle winner had gone on to win the Champion Hurdle since Kribensis in 1990, and 73 five-year-olds had been beaten in the race since See You Then registered the last five-year-old success in 1985. His later career was affected by injury and he never won again.
Harchibald was French-bred, Irish-trained thoroughbred racehorse who won four Grade 1 races over hurdles.
Go Native was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse, born to sire Double Eclipse and dam Native Idea. He was owned by Docado Syndicate, trained by Noel Meade, and his primary jockey has been Paul Carberry. He was purchased by the Docado Syndicate for £25,000 from horse dealer Martin Cullinane. As of March 21, 2009, Go Native’s career record stands at 8 wins, 4 places and 0 shows, with 3 of his wins coming in Grade 1 Hurdle races. He has amassed £310,254 in lifetime earnings.
The Docado Syndicate is a six person horse racing ownership group from Ireland. The syndicate includes Eamon Doyle and Kitty Carr, owners of the Park House Hotel in Galway City for the past 34 years. Doyle and Carr are also the owners of the Galway Restaurant, also located in Galway City. Along with Doyle and Carr, the Docado Syndicate ownership group also includes Carr’s sister Maura, her husband Sylvie Dowd and their children Tom and Ann Marie. The Syndicate’s name, Docado, is formed by using the first two letters of the principal owners’ last names: DOwd, CArr, DOwd.
Davy Condon is an Irish National hunt racing jockey in Great Britain and Ireland. Condon’s father, Michael Condon, was an amateur jockey. His father rode for Jimmy Murphy and Charles Byrnes, but a fall that left him in a coma cut his career short with just one win to his credit. His nephew Richard is also a jockey and had a winner at the Cheltenham festival in 2021 on Heaven Help Us. His grandfather, Gerry Townend, was also a notable amateur jockey. Condon retired in 2015 after a spinal injury.
Noel Meade is a horse trainer from Castletown, County Meath, Ireland. He established Tu Va Stables in Meath as a place to train his horses.
Tu Va Stables in County Meath, Ireland is an Irish thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding business that was established by Noel Meade, a prominent National Hunt racing horse trainer.
Binocular, foaled on 17 March 2004 in France, is a French thoroughbred retired racehorse. He was sired by Enrique out of the mare Bleu Ciel Et Blanc. He is owned by J. P. McManus and trained by Nicky Henderson. His primary jockey is Tony McCoy.
Rock On Ruby, is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist hurdler he is best known for his performances in the 2011–2012 National Hunt season, when he won the Gerry Feilden Hurdle at Newbury in November before winning Britain's most prestigious hurdle race, the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on 13 March. After failing to make a mark as a steeplechaser he returned to hurdling and won the Relkeel Hurdle in 2014 and the Ascot Hurdle in 2015.
Granville Again was an Irish-bred racehorse who competed in National Hunt races and recorded his most important win in the 1993 Champion Hurdle. In his early career he won two of his three National Hunt Flat races and was a successful Novice Hurdler, winning the Dovecote Novices' Hurdle and Top Novices' Hurdle as well as finishing second in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle. In the 1991/1992 season, Granville Again won all five of his completed races including the Champion Hurdle Trial and the Scottish Champion Hurdle but fell when second favourite for the Champion Hurdle. In the following season he was beaten in his first three starts but returned to his best form to defeat a strong field in the Champion Hurdle. He never won again and failed to finish in the first three in his last ten races. He was retired from racing in 1996 and died in 2003 at the age of seventeen.
Buveur d'Air is a retired French-bred British-trained AQPS racehorse who competed in National Hunt races. After winning twice in his native France he moved to England and won the Top Novices' Hurdle in 2016. In the following season he won two steeplechases before reverting to hurdle races to win the Contenders Hurdle and then recording his biggest success in the Champion Hurdle. In the 2017–18 season he was unbeaten, winning the Fighting Fifth Hurdle, Christmas Hurdle and a second Champion Hurdle, so becoming the second horse, after Kribensis, to win the Triple Crown of Hurdling. The 2018-19 season saw him win both the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and the Contenders Hurdle for the second time. In November 2019 he sustained a freak injury in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and did not race for the rest of the season.