New Course
To stand a chance of featuring in the Pertemps Final, runners needed to have finished in the top four in any of the qualifying races that were held earlier in the season. It’s a rather unique event in this aspect but it’s something which means this race consistently has a jam-packed field.
Taking place for the first time in 1974, this handicap hurdle was promoted to Grade 3 level in 2018 having previously being Listed class. This was reclassified as a Premier Handicap from the 2023 renewal.
Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle Course Map (New Course)
Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle Past Winners
| Year | Winner | SP | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Monmiral | 25/1 | Paul Nicholls | Harry Cobden |
| 2023 | Good Time Jonny | 9/1 | Tony Martin | Liam McKenna |
| 2022 | Third Wind | 25/1 | Hughie Morrison | Tom O'Brien |
| 2021 | Mrs Milner | 12/1 | Paul Nolan | Bryan Cooper |
| 2020 | Sire Du Berlais | 10/1 | Gordon Elliott | Barry Geraghty |
| 2019 | Sire Du Berlais | 4/1 | Gordon Elliott | Barry Geraghty |
| 2018 | Delta Work | 6/1 | Gordon Elliott | Davy Russell |
| 2017 | Presenting Percy | 11/1 | Pat Kelly | Davy Russell |
| 2016 | Mall Dini | 14/1 | Pat Kelly | Davy Russell |
| 2015 | Call The Cops | 9/1 | Nicky Henderson | Andrew Tinkler |
| 2014 | Fingal Bay | 9/2 | Philip Hobbs | Richard Johnson |
| 2013 | Holywell | 25/1 | Jonjo O'Neill | Richie McLernon |
| 2012 | Cape Tribulation | 14/1 | Malcolm Jefferson | Denis O'Regan |
| 2011 | Buena Vista | 20/1 | David Pipe | Conor O'Farrell |
| 2010 | Buena Vista | 16/1 | David Pipe | Hadden Frost |
| 2009 | Kayf Aramis | 16/1 | Venetia Williams | Aidan Coleman |
| 2008 | Ballyfitz | 18/1 | Nigel Twiston-Davies | Paddy Brennan |
| 2007 | Oscar Park | 14/1 | David Arbuthnot | Tom Doyle |
| 2006 | Kadoun | 50/1 | Michael O'Brien | Tom Ryan |
| 2005 | Oulart | 10/1 | Dessie Hughes | Paul Carberry |
About the Pertemps Final Hurdle: Hugely Competitive Stayers Handicap
The organisers of the Cheltenham Festival understandably make a big deal of the fact that there are fourteen Grade 1 races taking place across the four days of action. Race goers love the chance to see the very best horses across the various divisions compete against one another but punters always enjoy getting their teeth stuck into a competitive betting heat and in that regard there is nothing quite like a handicap.
The Pertemps Final Hurdle is one such race that always provides plenty of opportunity for punters. Not only is this three mile contest a handicap but it is one that all the competitors must qualify for earlier on in the National Hunt season.
There are 16 different opportunities in Britain and Ireland for connections to get their horses into the Pertemps Final Hurdle and have a crack at a winner’s prize that was over £56,000 in 2024. These are held at various courses in Britain and Ireland and horses must finish in the top four in at least one of them to have a chance of a place amongst the big field of the series final. Previously, horses qualified by finishing in the first six places in these races but this was changed from the 2022/23 jumps season. The top four horses from the latest qualifiers can be found here.
Never Easy To Unravel
You might think that the presence of such a structured route to the Pertemps Final Hurdle would mean that predicting the winner is relatively easy. That is not the case. Horses who go off at odds of 20/1 or longer regularly claim places whilst winners at double figures are commonplace and winning favourites rare.
When picking through the form to try and pull out a potential winner the qualifying places do seem to be the most obvious place to start. Punters will certainly get some important insights from those but it is well worth noting that only a small percentage of recent winners actually won the race that got them a place at Cheltenham.
Punters who want specific races to cast an eye over should look at October’s Cheltenham Qualifier and the Heroes Handicap run at Sandown in February even though it is not one of the qualifiers.
There are some important trends to consider for the Pertemps Final though. The race is open to horses aged five and older but Delta Work in 2018 became only the second five-year-old to win since the race was introduced to the Cheltenham Festival in 1974. The key spell in terms of age is between six and nine so punters must have very good reasons for backing any horse who falls outside of this range.
The other range to carefully consider concerns the weights. Horses with an official rating of over 150 find it very difficult to make their class show with the amount of weight that they are forced to carry. Backing a horse carrying less than 11st is ideal but the unpredictable nature of the Pertemps Final Hurdle is reflected in the fact that even the top weighted horse has won previously. The latest to do so was Sire Du Berlais who won his second successive Pertemps Final in 2020 saddling 11st 12lbs.
This weigh carried by Sire Du Berlais was in fact the joint heaviest by any winning horse in the history of the race alongside Fingal Bay in 2014, 1lb more than the next highest weighted winner, Presenting Percy, who carried a hefty 11st 11lbs to victory in 2017. The lightest runners to win the race were Rogers Princess in 1989 and Creon in 2004, both of whom were carrying 10st 0lbs.
Pertemps Final Series Qualifiers Results (2023/24)
Below we have the top four finishers in each the Pertemps Final Qualifiers during the 2023/24 season. Fourteen are from the UK and three are from Ireland.
Cheltenham, 15:00, Saturday 28th October 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Hyland | 9/1 | 11st 1lb | Nicky Henderson | Nico de Boinville |
| 2nd | Judicial Law | 20/1 | 11st 2lbs | Jonjo O’Neill | Jonjo O’Neill Jr |
| 3rd | Flight Deck | 66/1 | 11st 11lbs | Deborah Cole | Chris Ward |
| 4th | Dubrovnik Harry | 9/1 | 10st 11lbs | Harry Fry | Jonathan Burke |
Newbury, 14:25, Thursday 9th November 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Young Butler | 7/1 | 10st 6lbs | Harry Derham | Paul O’Brien |
| 2nd | Emitom | 9/1 | 10st 12lbs | Alan King | Tom Cannon |
| 3rd | Bold Endeavour | 4/1 | 12st 0lbs | Nicky Henderson | Nico de Boinville |
| 4th | Hititi | 14/1 | 11st 1lb | Robert Walford | Bryan Carver |
Aintree, 13:35, Saturday 11th November 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gentleman At Arms | 9/1 | 10st 10lbs | Stuart Edmunds | Ciaran Gethings |
| 2nd | Iwilldoit | 17/2 | 11st 12lbs | Sam Thomas | Sam Twiston-Davies |
| 3rd | Icare Allen | 10/3 | 12st 0lbs | Willie Mullins | Jonjo O’Neill Jr |
| 4th | Starzov | 9/2 | 10st 12lbs | Philip Rothwell | Phillip Enright |
Kempton, 15:00, Monday 13th November 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dargiannini | 2/1 | 11st 3lbs | Harry Derham | Paul O’Brien |
| 2nd | Copper Coin | 11/1 | 10st 7lbs | Michael Scudamore | Beau Morgan |
| 3rd | Cobblers Dream | 9/2 | 11st 3lbs | Ben Case | Jonathan Burke |
| 4th | Irish Hill | 5/2 | 10st 12lbs | Paul Nicholls | Harry Cobden |
Market Rasen, 13:40, Thursday 23 November 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Itchy Feet | 7/2 | 11st 7lbs | Olly Murphy | Sean Bowen |
| 2nd | Giovanni Change | 7/1 | 10st 9lbs | Mark Walford | Jamie Hamilton |
| 3rd | Le Milos | 9/4 | 12st 1lbs | Dan Skelton | Harry Skelton |
| 4th | Spike Jones | 4/1 | 10st 2lbs | Samuel Drinkwater | Adam Wedge |
Punchestown, 15:00, Sunday 26th November 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jody Ted | 2/1 | 9st 11lbs | Eoin Griffin | Mark McDonagh |
| 2nd | Gabbys Cross | 9/2 | 10st 8lbs | Henry De Bromhead | Darragh O’Keeffe |
| 3rd | Alpesh Amin | 8/1 | 10st 1lb | Eric McNamara | Conor McNamara |
| 4th | Popova | 12/1 | 10st 10lbs | Henry De Bromhead | Rachael Blackmore |
Sandown, 12:40, Saturday 9th December 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Operation Manna | 5/2 | 9st 13lbs | Tom Lacey | Cameron Iles |
| 2nd | Hititi | 11/2 | 10st 11lbs | Robert Walford | Bryan Carver |
| 3rd | On The Blind Side | 25/1 | 11st 7lbs | Nicky Henderson | James Bowen |
| 4th | Dolphin Square | 14/1 | 10st 11lbs | Philip Hobbs & Johnson White | David Maxwell |
Carlisle, 14:10, Sunday 17th December 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Howlingmadmurdock | 6/4 | 11st 5lbs | Tom Lacey | Cameron Iles |
| 2nd | Ramo | 5/2 | 10st 12lbs | Venetia Williams | Charlie Deutsch |
| 3rd | Prairie Dancer | 9/1 | 12st 0lbs | Joseph Patrick O’Brien | J J Slevin |
| 4th | Court Dreaming | 16/1 | 9st 13lbs | Nicky Richards | Conor Rabbitt |
Wincanton, 15:13, Tuesday 26th December 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Goshhowposh | 11/4 | 11st 5lbs | Philip Hobbs & Johnson White | Micheal Nolan |
| 2nd | Shallow River | 17/2 | 11st 0lbs | Anthony Charlton | Bradley Harris |
| 3rd | Sabrina | 5/1 | 11st 5lbs | Paul Nicholls | Freddie Gingell |
| 4th | Hunting Percival | 40/1 | 10st 11lbs | Syd Hosie | Sean Houlihan |
Leopardstown, 15:00, Thursday 28th December 2023
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gaoth Chuil | 5/1 | 9st 13lbs | Ted Walsh | Shane O’Callaghan |
| 2nd | Farouk D’alene | 18/1 | 11st 5lbs | Gordon Elliott | Carl Millar |
| 3rd | Nine Graces | 5/1 | 10st 6lbs | Barry Connell | Michael O’Sullivan |
| 4th | Foxy Jacks | 4/1 | 9st 13lbs | Mouse Morris | Gavin Brouder |
Warwick, 13:49, Saturday 13th January 2024
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | J’Ai Froid | 8/1 | 10st 12lbs | Laura Morgan | John Kington |
| 2nd | Kyntara | 11/8 | 10st 11lbs | Mel Rowley | Charlie Deutsch |
| 3rd | Shallow River | 13/2 | 10st 3lbs | Anthony Charlton | Bradley Harris |
| 4th | Martha Brae | 15/2 | 11st 1lb | Dan Skelton | Harry Skelton |
Huntingdon, 15:45, Thursday 25th January 2024
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Beachcomber | 4/1 | 9st 10lbs | Jonjo O’Neill | Anthony O’Neill |
| 2nd | Loup De Maulde | 13/2 | 10st 3lbs | Robbie Llewellyn | Toby Wynne |
| 3rd | White Rhino | 11/4 | 10st 12lbs | Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero | Henry Brooke |
| 4th | Chantry House | 6/1 | 12st 0lbs | Nicky Henderson | James Bowen |
Musselburgh, 15:00, Sunday 4th February 2024
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Curley Finger | 16/1 | 10st 2lbs | Rebecca Menzies | Nathan Moscrop |
| 2nd | Springwell Bay | 4/1 | 12st 0lbs | Jonjo O’Neill | Jonjo O’Neill Jr |
| 3rd | Hector Javilex | 28/1 | 11st 4lbs | Charlie Longsdon | Lilly Pinchin |
| 4th | Anna Bunina | 18/1 | 11st 6lbs | John C McConnell | Freddie Gingell |
Exeter, 15:35, Sunday 11th February 2024
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Shallow River | 10/1 | 9st 13lbs | Anthony Charlton | Bradley Harris |
| 2nd | Hititi | 4/1 | 11st 0lbs | Robert Walford | Bryan Carver |
| 3rd | Mill Green | 12/1 | 11st 3lbs | Nicky Henderson | Nico de Boinville |
| 4th | Gowel Road | 11/2 | 11st 6lbs | Nigel Twiston-Davies | Sam Twiston-Davies |
Haydock, 15:50, Saturday 17th February 2024
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Cuthbert Dibble | 6/4 | 11st 9lbs | Nigel Twiston-Davies | Finn Lambert |
| 2nd | Lord Snootie | 6/1 | 11st 3lbs | Christian Williams | Nick Scholfield |
| 3rd | Yes Day | 5/1 | 11st 2lbs | Jonjo O’Neill | Jonjo O’Neill Jr |
| 4th | J’Ai Froid | 16/1 | 11st 10lbs | Laura Morgan | John Kington |
Chepstow, 15:08, Saturday 24th February 2024
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Classic Concorde | 12/1 | 10st 7lbs | David Brace | Connor Brace |
| 2nd | Supremely West | 3/1 | 10st 4lbs | Dr R. Newland & Jamie Insole | Luke Scott |
| 3rd | Bells Of Peterboro | 7/1 | 10st 9lbs | Tim Vaughan | Alan Johns |
| 4th | Monmiral | 10/1 | 11st 9lbs | Paul Nicholls | Freddie Gingell |
Naas, 15:55, Sunday 25th February 2024
| Pos. | Horse | Odds | Weight | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Noble Birth | 16/1 | 9st 11lbs | Eric McNamara | Daniel King |
| 2nd | Cleatus Poolaw | 3/1 | 10st 8lbs | Gordon Elliott | Danny Gilligan |
| 3rd | Desertmore House | 5/1 | 10st 8lbs | Martin Brassil | Ricky Doyle |
| 4th | Emancipator | 12/1 | 9st 7lbs | Terence O’Brien | John Shinnick |