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December Festival Hurdle
The December Festival Hurdle is one of Ireland’s most important Grade 1 hurdles races. The race is run annually at the Leopardstown Racecourse Christmas Festival, the event that also serves as the host of the Grade 1 Lexus Chase.
The December Festival Hurdle is run over a distance of 2 miles over Leopardstown Racecourse and features 8 hurdles. Entry to the race is restricted to 4-year-old and above thoroughbreds, many of whom go on to compete in the Cheltenham Festival’s Champion Hurdle.
December Festival Hurdle Betting & Trends
Age: Four of the last five December Festival hurdle winners were 7- or 8-year olds. In previous years 5- and 6-year-olds tended to dominate the race.
Odds: The antepost favourite hasn’t won the December Festival Hurdle once in the past five years. Winners during this period have been priced between 6/4 and 71, with only one winner priced over 9/2.
Jockey: No jockey has ridden more than one December Festival Hurdle winner since 2000.
Trainer: Trainer Colm Murphy scored twice in this race in the past five years.
December Festival Hurdle Tip: Laying the favourite is a decent option in a race where the market favourite rarely wins and offers a low liability. Each-way and place bets are unlikely to pay dividends, so punters looking to back a racehorse in this event are best off placing a straightforward back bet on a horse priced under 9/4.
December Festival Hurdle History
The December Festival Hurdle was first raced at Leopardstown Racecourse in 1986. The race has undergone several changes of sponsorship, and was first run as the Sean P. Graham Memorial Hurdle. The December Festival Hurdle was classified as a Grade 1 hurdles race in 2002.
For over a decade the December Festival Hurdle has been an important stop on the route to the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. As a result some of national hunt racing’s top hurdlers have appeared in the event before going on to win the Champion Hurdle, including four times champion, Istabraq, and two-times winner Brave Inca.
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