Triple Crown of Hurdling
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:
- The Fighting Fifth Hurdle, held at the Newcastle Racecourse
- The Christmas Hurdle, held at Kempton Park Racecourse
- The Champion Hurdle, held at Cheltenham Racecourse
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]
- Owner: £700,000
- Trainer: £150,000
- Stable Lad: £100,000
- Stable Staff: £50,000
Before 2023, the only horse to win all three races in one season was
Punjabi (2008/09)
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]
Go Native (2009/10)
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]
Triple Crown leg winners since the 1979/80 season
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 |
- Note
Notes
- ^ Montgomery, Sue (23 November 2006). "Racing: Bear stakes claim with Fighting chance". London: The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
- ^ "Hurdling aces can secure €1.49m bonus". breakingnews.ie. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
- ^ "What is the Triple Crown?". wbxtriplecrown.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Go Native closes in on £1m payout, mirror.co.uk, 16 February 2010, accessed 28 February 2010.
- ^ "WBX To Put Up £1m Hurdling Bonus Again". racingpost.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
- ^ "Kribensis passes away at 23". rte.ie. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
- ^ "Outsider Punjabi wins by a neck at Cheltenham". Scotsman.com. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
- ^ "Barry Geraghty rides 22-1 Punjabi to Champion Hurdle triumph". London: telegraph.co.uk. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
- ^ a b Native scores surprising Fighting Fifth win, rte.ie, 28 November 2009, accessed 28 February 2010.
- ^ Native prevails in Christmas cracker, belfasttelegraph.co.uk, 26 December 2009, accessed 28 February 2010.
- ^ Christmas Hurdle Goes Native, skysports.com 26 December 2009, accessed 28 February 2010
- ^ All systems go for bonus hunting Go Native Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine, puntinplay.com, 15 March 2010, accessed 21 March 2010.
- ^ Native one in a million, google.com, 18 March 2010, accessed 21 March 2010.
- ^ Disappointment for local runners at Cheltenham Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, meathchronical.ie, 16 March 2010, accessed 21 March 2010.
- ^ Bone scans and back specialists turn 999-1 Binocular into a champion, guardian.co.uk, 16 March 2010, accessed 17 March 2010.
See also
- Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United Kingdom)
- Horseracing in Great Britain