Betfair Exchange Trophy Handicap Hurdle

The Betfair Exchange Trophy is a handicap hurdle over two miles at Ascot in December.

The Betfair Exchange Trophy Handicap Hurdle is held on the 23rd of December 2023.

Formerly known as “The Ladbroke Hurdle”, it is one of the most valuable handicaps of the National Hunt season.

Notable past winners include Cause Of Causes (2012), Brain Power (2016) and dual winner Not So Sleepy (2019, 2020).

Find out more about the Betfair Exchange Trophy Hurdle:

Race Overview – The Betfair Exchange Trophy Handicap Hurdle

Horses must be four years old or older to compete in the Grade 3 National Hunt hurdle race, the Betfair Exchange Trophy Handicap Hurdle.

It is run at Ascot over a course that is approximately one mile and seven and a half furlongs long (1 mile 7 furlongs and 152 yards, or 3,156 metres). It will take place in December every year and is a handicap race.

Famous Betfair Exchange Trophy Winners

Winners of this race have mostly been specialist hurdlers but there was one notable exception in 2012 winner Cause Of Causes. He sprang a 25-1 surprise in heavy ground in this race for Gordon Elliott. The gelding went on to win the National Hunt Chase at the 2015 Cheltenham Festival, Kim Muir at the 2016 meeting and the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase in 2017. He then finished runner-up to One For Arthur in the 2017 Aintree Grand National.

Brain Power set a new record for the highest winning weight when defying 11st 11lbs in 2016. That run earned him an official rating of 162 and a tilt at the Champion Hurdle but he raced too freely and finishing only eighth. His later victories included the Grade 2 International Hurdle at Cheltenham and the Grade 1 American Grand National.

Not So Sleepy won the Listed Dee Stakes at Chester as a three-year-old and was placed at Group 3 level. He was a consistent staying handicapper on the flat and did not start his hurdling career until the age of seven in 2019. His first Betfair Exchange Trophy success came off a lightweight and the following season he defied a 15lbs rise in the official ratings. He gained a well-earned Grade 1 victory when dead-heating with Epatante in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in 2021.

Key Betfair Exchange Trophy Trials

Two of the last twelve winners of the Betfair Exchange Trophy ran in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham last time out, although neither had been placed.

Course form is a key factor with five of those winners having won at least once at Ascot previously.

Three of the last twelve winners ran in the valuable Betfair Hurdle at Newbury next time but only Raya Star (2011) managed a place. Three of those winners were unplaced in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March and four ran in the County Hurdle, again with only one horse finishing in the frame.

Betfair Exchange Trophy Betting Trends

Favourites have a modest record in the Betfair Exchange Trophy.

Two joint favourites have won in the last twelve renewals; Jolly’s Cracked It (dead-heat) in 2015 and Not So Sleepy in 2019.

The winner is often difficult for punters to find in this tricky event. Longer-priced winners include Cause Of Causes (2012) at 25-1, Not So Sleepy (2020) at 20-1 and Mohaayed (2018) at 16-1.

Over the past twelve years the winning weight range covers everything from 10st 1lb (Raya Star) to 11st 11lbs (Brain Power). There is also quite an even spread in the age of the winners from four to eight. Not So Sleepy became the oldest winner in the race’s relatively short history when claiming his second victory at the age of eight in 2020.

Betfair Exchange Trophy – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Nicky Henderson is the leading trainer in the history of the event with four winners. He won it in 2002 with Chauvinist and then struck in consecutive seasons with Jack The Giant (2007) and Sentry Duty (2008). He gained his fourth victory with Brain Power in 2016.

Hughie Morrison won the inaugural running in 2001 with the impressive Marble Arch. He then trained Not So Sleepy to be the first dual winner of the race in 2019 and 2020.

No jockey has won this race more than twice. Norman Williamson (2001 and 2002) and Davy Condon (2012 and 2014) currently share the leading rider honours.

Summary of  the Betfair Exchange Trophy

Thank you for checking out our Betfair Exchange Trophy Handicap Hurdle guide.

It is one of the toughest and most competitive handicap hurdles of the season and has been won by horses who go on to claim further and higher level success throughout the year.

There are more races in December that you might enjoy, so make sure you check them out.

Check out our Ascot tips page if you enjoy watching races at Ascot Racecourse.

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