Mares Novices Hurdle

The Mares Novices Hurdle is run as part of the Cheltenham Festival. 

The Mares Novices Hurdle will run on the 14th of March 2024.

The Dawn Run Mares Novices Hurdle is a Grade 2 race for fillies and mares at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

It is over an extended two miles and was first run in 2016 when the festival was extended to 28 races. Willie Mullins trained the first five winners including the impressive Limini (2016), Laurina (2018) and Concertista (2020). Harry Fry’s Love Envoi became the first British-trained winner in 2022.

Find out more about the Mares Hurdle now:

Mares Novices Hurdle Overview

The Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, renamed the Parnell Properties Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle for sponsorship reasons, is a Grade 2 National Hunt hurdle race for fillies and mares aged four and up.

It is run over a distance of around 2 miles and 1 furlong on the New Course at Cheltenham, and there are eight hurdles to jump during the race.

The race is for novice hurdlers, and it takes place every year in March during the Cheltenham Festival.

Many Mares Novices Hurdle horses will race in more races throughout the years. Stay updated on the horses and place ante-post bets if you want to wager on them.

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Mares Novices Hurdle Previous Winners

Check out the previous winners for this race:

Famous Dawn Run Mares Novices Hurdle Winners

The inaugural running in 2016 was won in brilliant fashion by the highly-touted Limini, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Ruby Walsh. She was made odds-on favourite on the strength of an effortless victory in a Grade 3 race at Leopardstown on her previous start. Walsh had her perfectly poised behind the leaders and she quickened impressively to win by four and a half lengths.

Limini never quite lived up to the hype but she was a grand mare and finished a close third to Apple’s Jade the following year in the Mares Hurdle. She had enough speed to switch back to the flat and win an £80,000 handicap in 2018.

Let’s Dance followed up for Mullins and Walsh in 2017 and another potential star was unveiled in Laurina in 2018. Paul Townend took the reins and she was even shorter than Limini in the betting at 4-7. She justified the odds when cantering to an 18 lengths victory. The Champion Hurdle was her aim in 2019 and she started 5-2 after easy wins at Sandown and Punchestown. She faded to finish a well-beaten fourth behind Espoir D’Allen.

Mullins duly made it 4/4 in 2019 but it did not go the way that the market had predicted. He saddled a 1-2 with 50-1 chance Eglantine Du Seuil beating 66-1 chance Concertista by a short head. The disappointment of the race was Nicky Henderson’s Epatante who trailed in only ninth. She would of course bounce back to claim the Champion Hurdle the following year.

The Mullins nap-hand of five winners was completed by Concertista the following season. She won by 12 lengths in the hands of Daryl Jacob. The mare took the same route as Limini and started favourite for the Mares Hurdle in 2021, losing out by a head to Black Tears in a pulsating finish.

Key Dawn Run Mares Novices Hurdle Trials

The best trial for the Dawn Run Novices Hurdle has been the Solerina Mares Hurdle at Fairyhouse. Two of the last seven winners of that race have run here, both being successful. Two winners of the Mares Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown have also run in this race but both were beaten.

Three of the first six winners returned to the Cheltenham Festival the following season to contest the Mares Hurdle. Concertista (2020) and Limini (2016) finished second and third respectively and Telmesomethinggirl (2021) was brought down.

Dawn Run Mares Novices Hurdle Betting Trends

The first three winners of this race were all heavily-backed favourites; Limini (2016) 8-11, Let’s Dance (2017) 11-8 and Laurina (2018) 4-7.

Bookmakers feared this race would become a Mullins benefit and so it proved, although they had few complaints when the stable won with 50-1 chance Eglantine Du Seuil in 2019.

Normal service was resumed in 2020 with Concertista a well-supported 9-2 chance.

Henry De Bromhead’s Telmesomethinggirl (2021) was 5-1 second favourite and Love Envoi (2022) a 15-2 chance.

Dawn Run Mares Novices Hurdle – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Willie Mullins enjoyed a monopoly in this race for the first five years; Limini (2016), Let’s Dance (2017), Laurina (2018), Eglantine Du Seuil (2019) and Concertista (2020).

He ran four in the 2021 renewal but none could land a blow behind the Henry de Bromhead duo of Telmesomethinggirl and Magic Daze.

Ruby Walsh rode the first two winners of this race with the next five winners all ridden by different jockeys.

Rachael Blackmore won on Telmesomethinggirl in 2021.

Betting on the Dawn Run Mares Novices Hurdle

The Dawn Run Mares Novices Hurdle is still a relatively new race in the Cheltenham Festival programme.

The domination of Willie Mullins was temporarily halted by the victories of Telmesomethinggirl and Love Envoi but he is sure to have plenty of firepower for future editions. Apart from the 50-1 shock result in 2019, this race has gone the way of fancied horses.

The Mare Novices the Cheltenham Festival has quite a lively ante-post market.

Mares Novice Hurdle Facts

• The Mares Novices Hurdle is a National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to mares aged four years or older.
• It is run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 2 miles and 1 furlong, and during its running, there are eight hurdles to be jumped.

Summary of Mares Novice Hurdle

The Mares Novice Hurdle is a new race recently added to the Cheltenham Festival.

It is currently run as the Ryanair Mares Novices Hurdle.

That said it has already produced some great races. Willie Mullins is often well-represented in the mares division and should always be feared.

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