Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle

James Dooley avatar

Written By:

Updated:

The Adonis Juvenile Novices Hurdle is a Grade 2 race for four-year-olds at Kempton Park in late February.

The Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle takes place on the 24th of February 2024.

It is one of the last recognised trials for the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Six horses have gone to win both races since 1988, the most recent being Zarkandar in 2011. Other notable winners include Well Chief (2003), Punjabi (2007) and Binocular (2008).

Find out more about the Adonis Novices Hurdle:

Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle

Race Overview – The Adonis Hurdle

In the United Kingdom, horses must be four years old to compete in Grade 2 Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle, a National Hunt hurdle competition.

It is run at Kempton Park over a course that is roughly 2 miles (3,219 metres) long, and there are eight hurdles to clear along the way.

This 13:50 race is one of the biggest races to occur in February.

If you are looking for more racing tips for events taking place at Kempton Racecourse then check out our Kempton Park racing tips page.

For all Kempton races, our finest racing tipsters give free horse racing tips!

Famous Adonis Juvenile Hurdle Winners

The race was formerly known as the Tote Placepot Hurdle and was first run in 1965.

Notable early winners include Melody Rock (1971), Bootlaces (1978) and Pollardstown (1979).

It has been run as the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle since 1994 when Mysilv won it before landing the Triumph Hurdle. The mare was the first of three winners in four seasons for David Nicholson, also successful with Zabadi (1996) and L’Opera (1997).

The other five horses to go on to win the Triumph in modern times were Katarino (1999), Snow Drop (2000), Penzance (2005), Soldatino (2010) and Zarkandar (2011).

Other notable winners include the prolific winning chaser Well Chief (2003) and subsequent Champion Hurdle winners Punjabi (2007) and Binocular (2008).

Key Adonis Juvenile Hurdle Trials

There are no obvious trial races for the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle. It is one of the last opportunities for horses to earn their place in the Triumph Hurdle and often features unraced French imports from the likes of Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and Alan King. An impressive winner here can sometimes be propelled to the head of the Triumph Hurdle betting.

Nine of the last twelve Adonis winners ran in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham but only Zarkandar (2011) was successful. Of the eight that have tried since Tritonic fared best when finishing fifth in 2021.

Fusil Raffles missed the Triumph Hurdle after winning here in 2019 but won the four-year-old hurdle at Punchestown on his next start.

Favourites have a good record in the Adonis Hurdle, winning seven of the last twelve including all five between 2018 and 2022. The latest sequence was started by Redicean (10-11) and followed by Fusil Raffles (4-1), Solo (6-4), Tritonic (5-6) and Knight Salute (15-8).

There have only been two recent winners outside the first three in the betting.

Zarkandar was an 8-1 winner in 2011 and Zubayr returned at 9-1 in 2016.

Both horses were trained by Paul Nicholls.

Horses with previous form tend to do best here as all but two of the last twelve winners had raced at least once over hurdles.

Adonis Juvenile Hurdle – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Nicky Henderson and Alan King currently share the honour of being top trainer in the Adonis Hurdle with five winners apiece.

Henderson’s winners were Katarino (1999), Punjabi (2007), Binocular (2008), Soldatino (2010) and Fusil Raffles (2019).

King’s five victories came with Trouble At Bay (2004), Penzance (2005), Master Blueyes (2017), Redicean (2018) and Tritonic (2021).

The leading riders are Adrian Maguire and Mick Fitzgerald with three winners.

Maguire won it on Mysilv (1994), Zabadi (1996) and L’Opera (1997).

Fitzgerald won on Katarino, Punjabi and Binocular for Henderson.

Betting on the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle

The betting market has been an excellent guide to the Adonis Juvenile Hurdle in recent years. However, you should be wary of initial quotes for the Triumph Hurdle as that competitive race comes quite soon after the Kempton contest and recent winners have struggled.

Facts about the Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle

  • The Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle is a Grade 2 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years.
  • It is run on the New Course at Kempton Park over a distance of about 2 miles, and during its running, there are eight hurdles to be jumped.
  • The race is for novice hurdlers, and it is scheduled to take place each year in late February.

Summary of the Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle

Thank you for reading our Adonis Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle guide.

This informative novice hurdle has thrown up some good winners over the years who have gone on to perform well at the Cheltenham Festival.

We hope you have enjoyed reviewing our stats and facts!

Here are all of February’s horse racing related posts: