Christmas Hurdle
| Grade 1 race | |
| Location |
Kempton Park, Sunbury, England |
|---|---|
| Race type | Hurdle race |
| Sponsor | William Hill |
| Website | Kempton Park |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 2 miles (3,219 metres) |
| Surface | Turf |
| Track | Right-handed |
| Qualification | Four-years-old and up |
| Weight | 11 st 7 lb Allowances 7 lb for fillies and mares |
| Purse |
£100,000 (2016) 1st: £57,218 |
The Christmas Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Kempton Park over a distance of about 2 miles (3,219 metres), and during its running there are eight hurdles to be jumped. The race is the second leg of the Triple Crown of Hurdling and is scheduled to take place each year during the King George VI Chase meeting on Boxing Day.
During the 1960s Kempton staged a 2-mile handicap race on Boxing Day called the Kempton Park Handicap Hurdle. Its winners included Salmon Spray and Saucy Kit – both subsequent winners of the Champion Hurdle. The race was abandoned in 1967 and 1968, and it returned in the guise of the Christmas Hurdle in 1969.
Four winners of the race in its present format have gone on to victory in the Champion Hurdle. The first was Lanzarote, the winner of the latter event in 1974, and the others are Dawn Run (1983–84), Kribensis (1989–90) and Faugheen (2014–15).
During 2006–2010 this race was part of a WBX bonus scheme which offered a prize of £1,000,000 to any horse which completed the Triple Crown of Hurdling.
Most successful horse since 1969 (2 wins):
Leading jockey since 1969 (5 wins):
Leading trainer since 1969 (6 wins):
1 The 1970 running was abandoned because of snow.
2 Celtic Ryde finished first in 1979, but he was relegated to second place after a stewards' inquiry.
3 The race was abandoned in 1981 because of frost.
4 It was cancelled in 1995 due to snow and frost, and in 1996 due to frost.
5 The race was switched to Sandown Park in 2005 as Kempton was closed for redevelopment.
6 The "2010" race was run on 15 January 2011, after Kempton Park's 2010 Boxing Day meeting was cancelled due to snow and frost.
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