William Hill Hurdle: Past Winners, Stats & History

About the William Hill Hurdle: Super Saturday’s Big Handicap

The Premier Handicap William Hill Hurdle is one of the most exciting handicaps in the lead up to the Cheltenham Festival. Horses who run well in this tend to go on to have a run at the Festival but with a healthy prize fund, and bags of history and kudos at play, this is a race that very much stands on its own merits.

An Inauspicious Start

Although the William Hill Hurdle is indelibly linked with Newbury, the first edition back in 1963 actually took place at Aintree. The first winner of the race, Rosyth, became embroiled in some real controversy after he successfully defended his title in 1964 when the race moved to Newbury. The racing authorities were suspicious that a horse could win twice and yet be unplaced four times in between. Jockey, Josh Gifford, was suspended and trainer, Ryan Price, warned off.

The pair would, however, combine for two more wins in 1966 and 1967, the latter race won by Hill House who failed a drugs test but was subsequently shown to be able to produce cortisol naturally. It wasn’t until 2013, one year after the race became known as the Betfair Hurdle, that Nicky Henderson became the first trainer to surpass Ryan Price’s four wins as My Tent Or Yours won with Tony McCoy on board. Henderson has since added two more wins in this race to extend his lead as the top trainer.

Initially, the race was known as the Schweppes Gold Trophy due to that company’s backing. Schweppes maintained sponsorship as the race grew in stature before Tote took over in 1986. That prompted a change of name to the Tote Gold Trophy (latterly the totesport Trophy) until 2011. From 2012 to 2024 the race was known as the Betfair Hurdle before William Hill became the backers of this race from 2025, taking on the present name.

William Hill Hurdle Title Changes: 1963 – 2025

Cheltenham Winners a Rarity

The talk after My Tent Or Yours’ win in 2013 was all about him going on to race in the Champion Hurdle, one of the four feature races at Cheltenham. However, caution prevailed and he stayed in novice company before tackling the Champion the following year. My Tent Or Yours ran into one too good on three separate occasions in the big hurdle at Cheltenham so was unable to join Persian War and Make A Stand as winners of both races.

The Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is actually the most common path for winners of the William Hill Hurdle to take. That’s because this is a contest in which a number of novice hurdlers are tested out against open company. Whatever choice connections make, it is rare for a horse to go from the William Hill Hurdle to victory at Cheltenham, although most winners at Newbury do at least try to claim glory at the Cotswolds extravaganza.

William Hill Hurdle Winners at Cheltenham: 2010 – 2024

A Potentially Lucrative Prize

Winners of the William Hill Hurdle may not win many races at the Cheltenham Festival, at least not following on from their initial success, but as the above table shows, many end up in the places. That is quite impressive for a handicap race which has a knack of providing long odds winners.

It’s very much a mixed bag in terms of odds of William Hill Hurdle winners. Between 2010 and 2025 five horses won who were either the favourite or joint favourite. The other eleven winners went in at 9/2, 11/2, 6/1, 17/2, 9/1, 12/1, 16/1, 20/1, 20/1 and 33/1 twice. It’s little surprise that the winning favourites have had a better Cheltenham record than the longer priced horses.

Connections weren’t just enthused by this as a warm up race though in past seasons. There was also a handsome £100,000 bonus for horses winning both the Betfair Exchange Trophy and the then Betfair Hurdle. The prize fund for this race by itself was £155,000 in 2025, making this very lucrative for a Premier Handicap contest.