The Triple Crown of Hurdling is awarded to a horse that wins all three of the open, two-mile Grade 1 Hurdling races in any given English National Hunt season:
- The Fighting Fifth Hurdle, held at the Newcastle Racecourse
- The Christmas Hurdle, held at Kempton Park Racecourse
- The Champion Hurdle, held at Cheltenham Racecourse
From 2006 to 2010,[1] the World Bet Exchange (WBX) put up a £1,000,000 bonus[2][3] for any horse that wins the Triple Crown. WBX offered the prize, the richest in hurdling history.[4] The bonus was split among the winning horse's connections as follows:[5]
- Owner: £700,000
- Trainer: £150,000
- Stable Lad: £100,000
- Stable Staff: £50,000
Before 2023, the only horse to win all three races in one season was Kribensis, a grey Henbit gelding, trained by Sir Michael Stoute in 1989–90.[6] Since the WBX bonus was introduced, only Punjabi and Go Native came close to claiming the prize, each winning two of the three races. After the bonus was withdrawn, their achievements were matched by My Tent Or Yours and Faugheen. However, in the 2022/2023 season, the breath-taking Bay gelding Constitution Hill, trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Nico de Boinville, swept all three races and claimed the Triple Crown for owner Michael Buckley.
Punjabi (2008/09) edit
Punjabi was the first horse who came closest of winning the WBX bonus. After narrowly beating the former champion hurdler Sublimity by a head in the 2008 Fighting Fifth Hurdle, Punjabi fell heavily in the 2008 Christmas Hurdle at the second-last flight while vying for the lead. Three months later, Punjabi held off the late rally of Celestial Halo to win the 2009 Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle as a 22/1 outsider.
His trainer, Nicky Henderson, was left to regret what might have been: "He was the forgotten horse. We'd have won a £1 million bonus if he hadn't fallen in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. He would have won I think. He was cantering. Anyway this makes up for it."[7] Punjabi's owner, Raymond Tooth, later described Punjabi's fall at Kempton as, "...probably the most expensive fall in the history of racing."[8]
Go Native (2009/10) edit
Without his normal jockey Paul Carberry,[9] Go Native entered the 2009 Fighting Fifth Hurdle as a 25-1 long-shot. Go Native and jockey Davy Condon went on to win the race by 2.5 lengths over Sublimity. Paul Carberry was quoted as saying: It wasn't a surprise to me. It looked tough on paper, but we know how good he is.[9]
Go Native, owned by the Docado Syndicate, entered the Christmas Hurdle as the 5-2 second favourite (behind Binocular),[10] and went on to secure a narrow victory over Starluck.[11]
A win in the 2010 Cheltenham Festival for Go Native would have made him the first horse to win the WBX bonus. Over £205,000 was wagered on WBX for the 2009-10 Triple Crown to be won, the market was backed in from a high of 49/1 before the first leg to a low of 3.8/1 prior to the Champion Hurdle.[12] With jockey Paul Carberry set to ride Go Native, Meade said of his horse: He's in great order and I couldn't be happier with him. It's all systems go. He looks great, he had a little breeze out on the track and he was nice and fresh. His last piece of work was pretty good all right, we were very happy with it.[13] Unfortunately, Go Native was unable to clear the second hurdle cleanly and could not recover, finishing the race in 10th place.[14][15]
Triple Crown leg winners since the 1979/80 season edit
| Winners of the Triple Crown |
| Winners of 2 out of the 3 Triple Crown races that includes the Champion Hurdle |
| Winners of the Fighting Fifth and Christmas Hurdle |
- Note
Notes edit
- ^ Montgomery, Sue (23 November 2006). "Racing: Bear stakes claim with Fighting chance". London: The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
- ^ "Hurdling aces can secure €1.49m bonus". breakingnews.ie. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
- ^ "What is the Triple Crown?". wbxtriplecrown.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Go Native closes in on £1m payout, mirror.co.uk, 16 February 2010, accessed 28 February 2010.
- ^ "WBX To Put Up £1m Hurdling Bonus Again". racingpost.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
- ^ "Kribensis passes away at 23". rte.ie. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
- ^ "Outsider Punjabi wins by a neck at Cheltenham". Scotsman.com. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
- ^ "Barry Geraghty rides 22-1 Punjabi to Champion Hurdle triumph". London: telegraph.co.uk. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
- ^ a b Native scores surprising Fighting Fifth win, rte.ie, 28 November 2009, accessed 28 February 2010.
- ^ Native prevails in Christmas cracker, belfasttelegraph.co.uk, 26 December 2009, accessed 28 February 2010.
- ^ Christmas Hurdle Goes Native, skysports.com 26 December 2009, accessed 28 February 2010
- ^ All systems go for bonus hunting Go Native Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine, puntinplay.com, 15 March 2010, accessed 21 March 2010.
- ^ Native one in a million, google.com, 18 March 2010, accessed 21 March 2010.
- ^ Disappointment for local runners at Cheltenham Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, meathchronical.ie, 16 March 2010, accessed 21 March 2010.
- ^ Bone scans and back specialists turn 999-1 Binocular into a champion, guardian.co.uk, 16 March 2010, accessed 17 March 2010.