The Triple Crown of Hurdling is one of the biggest attractions of the jump season in the UK. It’s highly prestigious and comes with some of the best Grade 1 hurdling races that the country has to offer.

Held annually at the Aintree Racecourse in Merseyside, England close to Liverpool, the Grand National is a highly entertaining horse race with dozens of jumps and obstacles. After all, the event is a Hunt horse racing performance that focuses on hurdles and a variety of difficult jumps.

• The term Triple Crown describes a series of three thoroughbred races for three-year-olds; usually three of the most valuable and competitive races of the flat racing season. In order to be proclaimed Triple Crown Champion, a contender must win all three races of the Triple Crown series, a feat which is notoriously hard to pull off - but the difficulty only makes the title more appealing.
• The Triple Crown of Motorsport is an unofficial motorsport achievement of victory in three of the most prestigious races in the world of motorsport. The three races are the Monaco Grand Prix (from Formula One), the Indianapolis 500 (from IndyCar) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (from endurance racing).Only one driver, Graham Hill has completed the feat. An alternative definition is to include the.

The prestige is underlined even more by the fact that since 2010 it’s still been running successfully but without the bonus money that used to be on offer. This highlights that even though there is no additional money to be won (horses will still get the prize money from each of the races) it’s one that many of the elite still target to this day.

The Triple Crown of Hurdling has been running since 1979. The three races that are included are that of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park and the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. Each of the races is very similar, which is why they are linked in the Triple Crown and therefore attract very similar fields as a result.

Prize Money

Prize money has not always been a part of the Triple Crown of Hurdling, but in fairly recent times it has attracted some sponsorship deals which raised the profile.

This came in the form of the betting exchange, WBX. In 2006 it was announced that they would become main sponsors of the event and in return would put up a reward of £1 million for any horse that wins all three races in the same season. This would make it the richest prize fund n hurdling history at the time.

The idea was that the bonus money would be paid out to all those involved with the horse. The owner got the largest share at 70%, with 15% to the trainer, 10% to the stable lad and 5% to the stable staff. Interestingly, none of the bonus money went to the jockey, which is rare for these types of awards.

WBX ran it from 2006 through to 2010. They later went out of business but throughout their time never had to pay any bonus money as no horses were able to win the elusive Triple Crown.

Since then no sponsorship deals have been arranged and therefore, it now runs without any prize money. That being said, the winner of all three races will pick up close to £400,000 in prize money alone, so it’s still highly lucrative.

What’s the Form of the Races Involved?

There are three races involved which include:

Uk Triple Crown Race Course Sites

• Fighting Fifth Hurdle – Newcastle
• Christmas Hurdle– Kempton Park
• Champion Hurdle – Cheltenham

To win the Triple Crown of Hurdling a horse must win each of these races in the same season. Any horse that qualifies for the first race at Newcastle will be in with a chance of winning the overall award.

Whilst each is highly respected races in their own right, there would be few that would argue that the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham is the standout race of the three. This is one of the main reasons as to why there have only been 2 winners over the years. The field for the Champion Hurdle goes up a notch in terms of class compared to the first two races.

Let’s take a look at how each of the races works:

Fighting Fifth Hurdle – Newcastle

The Fighting Fifth takes place in late November to early December. Even though the hurdle season will be in full flow by then, it’s seen as one of the early highlights of the season and it’s a race that many trainers will target with horses that have shown early promise in their career to take the next step.

It’s a race that has been running since 1969 and it takes place over 2m 98y, open to four-year-old horses and older. It comes with a purse of £110,000 with 1st place getting £61,897 of that money. The race has had its Grade 1 status since 2004 and even though it’s a part of the Triple Crown of Hurdling, is very much seen as a curtain-raiser for potential horses to run at the Cheltenham Festival.

There are two standout horses in the race’s history which comes in the form of Comedy of Errors and Birds Nest, both winning this race 3 times each throughout the seventies. In more recent times, Buveur d’Air is probably the start name here, winning twice in 2017 and 2018. However, other notables include Go Native, Punjabi, Straw Bear, Harchibald and Overturn.

Christmas Hurdle – Kempton

Like the Fighting fifth, the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park Racecourse has also been running since 1969. It comes in dead on 2 miles and takes place as part of the Boxing Day meeting, sharing the limelight with the King George VI race.

It’s another Grade 1 National Hunt race and again is one of the highest-profile races of the season. The purse of £130,000 means that first place will pick up £74,035. It’s had some of the world’s best hurdlers run the race and with it include the likes of Coral Diver (first multiple winners), Kribensis, Harchibald, Binocular, Faugheen, Buver d’Air, Go Native and Intersky Falcon.

Champion Hurdle – Cheltenham

Not only is the Champion Hurdle the biggest of the three races, but it’s also the most lucrative. It comes with a purse of £450,000, and a 1st place cheque of £253,215. This is more than the other two races combined.

The Champion Hurdle is a firm favourite as part of the Cheltenham Festival which takes place in March. The race itself is run over 2m 87y and attracts horses from all over the world to come and compete. It’s generally thought that any winner of the race will go down in hurdling history. The likes of National Sprint, Istabraq and Lanzarote, who are all previous winners, now have races named in their honour as a result.

The race has been running since 1927 and in that time has had some of the best hurdlers to have ever raced win it. Istabraq, See You Then, Persona War, Sir Ken and Hatton’s Grace are 5 horses that have won this race an incredible three times, more than any other. Ruby Walsh and Tim Molony have the record for most jockey wins with 4 apiece and the leading trainer is that of Nicky Henderson, with 7 wins in total.

Other notable winners include Buveur d’Air, Annie Power, Hurricane Fly, Rock on Ruby, Binocular, Jezki, Punjabi, Brave Inca and Collier Bay.

Winners and Close Calls

There have only been two winners of the Triple Crown of Hurdling since its inauguration in 1979. The first was that of Kribensis, a grey Irish horse that was trained by Sir Michael Stoute. The other is a lot more recent and comes in the form of Buveur d’Air, who managed the feat in 2017/18.

Buveur d’Air is an incredible horse and won the Champion Hurdle the year before winning it to claim the Triple Crown, meaning that he won 4 in a row in total. It’s likely that the horse, trained by Nicky Henderson, is going to go down as one of the all-time greats. As it stands, they’ve already won the Top Novices’ Hurdle, Champion hurdle twice, Aintree Hurdle, Fighting Fifth Hurdle twice and the Punchestown Champion Hurdle in 2019 to name but a few.

Whilst there hasn’t been many winners and almost 30 years between the two that have won, there has been several close calls. Winners of both the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and the Christmas Hurdle include Landing Light, Intersky Falcon, Harchibald, Go Native and My Tent or Yours.

Jockey Club Racecourses will again offer a £1million bonus for any horse that can complete the Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown by winning the Betfair Chase, the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase and the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The brilliant Kauto Star remains the only horse to have ever achieved the remarkable feat during an unbeaten 2006-7 campaign, in which he also won the Old Roan Chase at Aintree, the Tingle Creek at Sandown and the AON Chase at Newbury.

As well as landing the huge bonus – with 65 per cent going to the owner(s), 15 per cent to the trainer, 10 per cent to racing staff at the winning yard and 10 per cent to the jockey – connections of any horse to complete the treble this season would also claim the Kauto Star Trophy, commissioned in 2017 and thought to be the only piece of silverware in sport never to have been won.

Kauto’s Star’s trainer, Paul Nicholls, has two potential challengers this season in King George hero Clan Des Obeaux and Frodon, who was last seen claiming a memorable victory in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in March under Bryony Frost.

Nicholls said: “Frodon and Clan Des Obeaux are two horses that at, this stage, I have earmarked for the Betfair Chase. Both are real contenders and if either managed to land the first leg then it’s game on.”

In further recognition of his historic achievement, the Jockey Club has also commissioned an illustration celebrating the majesty of Kauto Star, along with trainer Nicholls and jockey Ruby Walsh, who retired from the sport earlier this year.

Owner Clive Smith is also recognised in a stone carving on the plinth which Kauto Star stands upon.

“I still think in this generation Kauto Star is the best there’s been,” Nicholls added.

“He was a very special horse. When he won the Triple Crown I said it would be an extremely difficult thing for any horse to repeat and I stand by that.

“But it doesn’t mean it can’t be done. There are some great chasers out there and the new season promises to be very competitive again.”

A chaser has won two of the three legs of the Triple Crown in six of the last 11 seasons. Four of those saw Cue Card in 2015/16, Silviniaco Conti in 2014/15 and Kauto Star in both 2009/10 and 2011/12 win the first two races of the challenge before failing to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Triple Crown Senior

Twice in that period the last two legs have been won by Long Run in 2010/11 and Kauto Star in 2008/9 in seasons where they did not win the Betfair Chase.

Paul Fisher, chief executive of Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “We’re delighted to once again be offering this £1million bonus to horses taking part in the three most prestigious Grade One staying chases in jump racing.

“The fact that no other horse has achieved what the great Kauto Star did nearly 13 years ago shows you not only how special he was but also how competitive this division of jump racing is.

Triple Crown Inc

“It would be fantastic to crown a new king of our sport and a great story for racing fans to share with a wider audience.”

Triple Crown Challenge

The Betfair Chase at Haydock is the first leg on November 23, followed by the King George on Boxing Day and the Gold Cup on March 13.

Triple Crown Logo

Betfair offer 12-1 about any horse winning all three races, with Clan Des Obeaux the horse who the firm feel has the best chance of doing so at 50-1.

Last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Al Boum Photo is a 66-1 shot, ahead of his stablemate Kemboy – who beat Al Boum Photo in an epic Punchestown Gold Cup – at 100-1.

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