The warm up race to the Chelteham Gold Cup, the AB Novices Hurdle is a 3 mile race with 12 hurdles and is restricted to horses aged 4 and over. The race (which is also known as the Spa Novices Hurdle) was added to the Cheltenham Festival in 2005 (where it was moved from its previous home at Sandown) as part of the expansion of the festival from 3 days to 4 days.

2012 Novices Hurdle Trends

-          15 of the previous 21 placed horses started at single figure odds

-           Every winner of this race has been aged between 5 and 7 years old

-           The antepost favourite has won the race twice and been placed three times

-          Robert Thornton and Tony McCoy have both ridden 2 winners

-           All seven previous winners had previously won over  at least 2m4f

-          The race favourite has only won once in the last 5 years

2012 Novices Hurdle Race Card

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2012 Novices Hurdle Tips

Previous Winners

2007 – Wichita Lineman (J O’Neill) 11/8f

2008 – Nenuphar Collonges (A King) 9/1

2009 – Weapons Amnesty (C Byrne) 8/1

2010 – Berties Dream (P Gilligan) 33/1

2011 – Bobs Worth (N Henderson) 7/2