The Supreme Novices Hurdle is the First Race of the Cheltenham Gold Cup 2012, and is open to horses aged 4 years or older. It is run over the Cheltenham Old Course, which is 2 miles and 110 years long, and has 8 hurdles to navigate. The race was originally called the Gloucester Hurdle, after the county that it was raced in, but was renamed to the Supreme Novices Hurdle in 1978. It was first run in 1946 and was won by ‘Prince Rupert’. The race has a total prize fund of £100,000 and is sponsored by William Hill. The race is scheduled to run at 13:30 on Day 1 of the 2012 Cheltenham Festival.

The horses that run in this race are made up of the winners and placed horses of the previous years Champion Bumper meetings meaning that the field is always large, and fast and frantic racing is the order of the day. The horses participating in the Supreme Novices Hurdle will need to have experience of running in races with a lot of traffic around them. Ground conditions of the day will have a definite bearing on the race outcome.

2012 Supreme Novices Hurdle Trends

-          Seven of the last ten winners were trained in Ireland

-          Horses aged either 5 or 6 years old have won 31 of the last 35 races

-          Nine of the last ten winners had also won their previous race

-          Twelve of the eighteen winners were making their Cheltenham debut

-          Only two horses that started as favourites have won this race in the last eighteen meetings

2012 Supreme Novice Hurdle Race Card

2012 Supreme Novice Hurdle Tips

Racing Post                         Cue Card

Spotlight                              Cue Card

The Daily Express             Cue Card

The Guardian                     Cue Card

The Daily Mail                    Cue Card

The Daily Mirror                Spirit Son

The Daily Star                     Spirit Son

The Sun                                 Spirit Son

The Daily Telegraph        Spirit Son

The Times                            Spirit Son

Previous winners

2007 – Ebaziyan (D Condon) 40/1

2008 – Captain Cee Bee (R Thornton) 15/2

2009 – Go Native (P Carberry) 12/1

2010 – Menorah (R Johnson) 12/1

2011 – Al Ferof (R Walsh) 10/1