The Scottish Champion Hurdle is a Grade 2 National Hunthurdle race in Scotland which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ayr, South Ayrshire, over a distance of about 2 miles (3,219 metres), and during its running there are nine hurdles to be jumped. It is a limited handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year in April.
The event was established in 1966, and the inaugural winner was Blue Venom. For a period it was classed at Listed level, and it was promoted to Grade 2 status in 1991. The race used to be held on the day before the Scottish Grand National, but both events have taken place on the same day since 1994. Its present sponsor, QTS, has backed the race since 2013.
Several winners of the Scottish Champion Hurdle have also achieved victory in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. The most recent was Alderbrook, the winner of the latter contest in 1995. Captain Christy won the race in 1973, the year before winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup as a novice. Another Irish-trained horse, Golden Cygnet, suffered fatal injuries when he fell in the 1978 running.
The winner was Michael Jackson's Morley Street, a seven-year-old chestnutgelding trained in Hampshire by Toby Balding and ridden by Jimmy Frost. Morley Street's victory was a first in the race for jockey and owner, and a second for the trainer, who had previously won with Beech Road in 1989.
Morley Street had established himself as a top class hurdler by winning the Mersey Novices' Hurdle in 1989 and the Aintree Hurdle in 1990, but had had mixed results when campaigned in steeplechases in the early part of the 1990/1991 National Hunt season. He re-entered the Champion Hurdle picture by winning the Berkshire Hurdle at Newbury on 1 March. Eleven days later he started the 4/1 favourite for the Champion Hurdle and won by one and a half lengths from the American-bred stallion Nomadic Way, with Ruling a head away in third place. The previous winner of the race to take part was Beech Road who finished in eighth place. Twenty-one of the twenty-four runners completed the course.
Kribensis had established himself as a top class hurdler by winning the Christmas Hurdle in 1988, but had finished only seventh when 11/8 favourite for the 1989 Champion Hurdle. In 1990 he was made 95/40 second favourite for the Champion Hurdle and won by three lengths from the American-bred stallion Nomadic Way, with the 150/1 outsider Past Glories three quarters of a length away in third place. The 1990 winner Beech Road, the 2/1 favourite, finished in fourth place whilst See You Then the winner in 1985, 1986 and 1987 finished last. Sixteen of the nineteen runners completed the course.
The winner was Raymond Tooth's Punjabi, a six-year-old gelding trained in Berkshire by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Barry Geraghty. The victory was Henderson's fourth in the race, following See You Then in 1985, 1986 and 1987, and a first in the race for Geraghty..
Punjabi won at odds of 22/1 by a neck from the Triumph Hurdle winner Celestial Halo. The field included four previous winners of the race: Hardy Eustace (2004, 2005), Brave Inca (2006), Sublimity (2007) and Katchit (2008). Twenty-one of the twenty-three runners completed the course.
Shithead (also known as Karma, Palace, Shed, Three Card Game and by many other names) is a card game similar to the Finnish game Paskahousu. In the game the object is to lose all of one's cards, with the last player to do so being the "shithead", who must deal the next game and may be subject to some minor forfeit of the group's choice, such as fetching the next round of drinks.
The game, and variations of it, is popular in many countries amongst backpackers, and as a result is widespread. Although the basic structure of the game generally remains constant there are often regional variations of the game's original rules.
Rules
There are many variations of the rules, and there is no universally accepted set. A common set of rules is listed here.
Setup
From a standard, shuffled deck of 52 cards, each player is dealt three face-down cards in a row. Players are not allowed to see or change these cards. On top of the face-down cards, they are dealt the same number of face-up cards. Three cards are again dealt to each player (face down), and this becomes the player's hand.
Golden Cygnet falls at the final flight with the race at his mercy.
published: 28 May 2008
1996 Scottish Champion Hurdle Alderbrook
1st Alderbrook 2nd Escartefigue 3rd Land Afar
published: 21 Jan 2021
1996 Daily Star of Scotland Scottish Champion Hurdle Limited Handicap
Date: Saturday 20th April 1996 |
Course: Ayr |
Distance: 2m |
Going: Soft |
Winning Time: 3m 49.40s |
Winner: Alderbrook (Richard Dunwoody) [K C Bailey] |
Runners: 9
Only the latter part of the race available, as the start was delayed and resulted in a direct clash with BBC coverage of Newbury.
Date: Saturday 20th April 1996 |
Course: Ayr |
Distance: 2m |
Going: Soft |
Winning Time: 3m 49.40s |
Winner: Alderbrook (Richard Dunwoody) [K C Bailey] |
Runners: 9
Only the latter part of the race available, as the start was delayed and resulted in a direct clash with BBC coverage of Newbury.
Date: Saturday 20th April 1996 |
Course: Ayr |
Distance: 2m |
Going: Soft |
Winning Time: 3m 49.40s |
Winner: Alderbrook (Richard Dunwoody) [K C Bailey] |
Runners: 9
Only the latter part of the race available, as the start was delayed and resulted in a direct clash with BBC coverage of Newbury.
Date: Saturday 20th April 1996 |
Course: Ayr |
Distance: 2m |
Going: Soft |
Winning Time: 3m 49.40s |
Winner: Alderbrook (Richard Dunwoody) [K C Bailey] |
Runners: 9
Only the latter part of the race available, as the start was delayed and resulted in a direct clash with BBC coverage of Newbury.
The Scottish Champion Hurdle is a Grade 2 National Hunthurdle race in Scotland which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ayr, South Ayrshire, over a distance of about 2 miles (3,219 metres), and during its running there are nine hurdles to be jumped. It is a limited handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year in April.
The event was established in 1966, and the inaugural winner was Blue Venom. For a period it was classed at Listed level, and it was promoted to Grade 2 status in 1991. The race used to be held on the day before the Scottish Grand National, but both events have taken place on the same day since 1994. Its present sponsor, QTS, has backed the race since 2013.
Several winners of the Scottish Champion Hurdle have also achieved victory in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. The most recent was Alderbrook, the winner of the latter contest in 1995. Captain Christy won the race in 1973, the year before winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup as a novice. Another Irish-trained horse, Golden Cygnet, suffered fatal injuries when he fell in the 1978 running.
But on the last two Saturdays of the 2023/24 season the yard picked up a couple of valuable handicap hurdles, with Favour And Fortune winning the ScottishChampion Hurdle followed a week later by ...
... run in the Greatwood Hurdle at this meeting last year behind him when going on to finish second in both the Betfair Hurdle and County Hurdle along with a close fifth in the ScottishChampion Hurdle.
The horse did obviously go on to prove that Greatwood flop all wrong with fine seconds in both the Betfair Hurdle and County Hurdle, before ending the year with a close-up fifth in the ScottishChampion Hurdle at Ayr in April.
Read more ...Cheltenham Festival winner Lark In The Mornin sets a high standard but quicker ground makes this a different test and a close fourth in the ScottishChampion Hurdle last time, will be a tough opponent with Freddie Gingell taking off 3lb ... .
Our star columnist has a strong team in action at Punchestown on Tuesday ... He ran very well when second in the ScottishChampion Hurdle at Ayr and has his chance ... One maybe to watch out for in the future over hurdles and fences.16.50King Rasko Grey ... .
My second new bet tomorrow runs in the opening race on the Sandown card – the bet365 Novices’ Championship FinalHandicap Hurdle (1.30 p.m.) ... 1 point each way Salsada at 20-1 in ScottishChampion Hurdle, 1/5th odds, 4 places.
Mullins came closest to grabbing CoralScottishChampion Hurdle glory when Bialystok was produced for a strong late challenge by Townend, but they had to settle for second best behind Alan King’s Favour And Fortune.
Autonomous in control of ScottishNational... With that in mind I want to take on County Hurdle second L’Eau du Sud in the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle with Alan King's FAVOUR AND FORTUNE who looks to be crying out for a bit of drying ground.
Mullins has 18 horses engaged at Ayr over a fabulous eight-race card, the feature of which is the ScottishGrand National... champions ... His best chance, he believes, comes in the Scottish Champion Hurdle.
Mullins having three also helps make the market if you’re looking to back anything else in the CoralScottishChampion Hurdle too and I’m not going to desert FIRST STREET, who looked to have been lined up quite nicely for the Coral Cup at Cheltenham.
