County Hurdle: Cheltenham Festival RaceCHELTENHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 18: Ruby Walsh and Sporazene return after landing The Vincent O' Brien County Hurdle Race run on the third day of the annual National Hunt Festival held at Cheltenham Racecourse on March 18, 2004 in Cheltenham, England. (Photo by Julian Herbert/Getty Images)

The County Hurdle is the concluding race of the Cheltenham Festival.

The County Hurdle is one of the longest serving events at the Cheltenham Festival and was first won by Trespasser in 1920. The race also has a history of disruptions, being abandoned on five occasions, most recently due to the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak. The County Hurdle is a class A Grade 3 National Hunt hurdle run on the Cheltenham New Course.

Horses aged five and over run in the County Hurdle over a distance of 2 miles and 1 furlongs. The finale of the Cheltenham Festival is fiercely competitive and produces some fast winning times with Moody Man holding the race record of a blistering 3 minutes 52 seconds.

County Hurdle Winners

No County Hurdle winner has been able to retain the title in the last decade of the race. This is typical of handicap races which see previous winners carry extra weights that make consecutive wins extremely difficult. The most notable winner of the County Hurdle, Cheltenham Festival race, in recent years has been Rooster Booster who won the race in 2002 before going on to win the 2003 Cheltenham Champion Hurdle.

Ruby Walsh, the Irish jockey who looks certain to claim the Champion Jockey title from Tony McCoy in the near future, has an excellent record in the County Hurdle. The talented young Champion Hurdle winner won the race in 2004 and 2006 and lost out narrowly in 2007 when he came in second.

Trainers Martin Pipe and Paul Nicholls have shared the honours for best trainer in the last decade of the race with each trainer claiming two victories. The race itself is described as the Vincent O’Brien County Hurdle on the race card in honour of one of Ireland’s greatest-ever trainers.

County Hurdle Betting

The County Hurdle sees a final flurry of activity as jockeys, trainers and punters all compete to cap off the Cheltenham Festival with success in the final race. Despite being a handicap event the race rarely produces a winner at long odds, with the majority of recent County Hurdle, Cheltenham Festival race, winners entering the race at odds shorter than 16-1.

County Hurdle betting trends indicate that horses aged over seven have a poor chance of winning the race.

For live horse race betting we recommend William Hill, one of the world's leading bookmakers.