Mersey Novices’ Hurdle

Mersey Novices’ Hurdle Overview

The Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle is a Grade 1 hurdle for novices running over a distance of about 2 miles and 4 furlongs. There are eleven hurdles to negotiate during the race, which is run on the final day of the three-day Grand National meeting in early April. The winner is likely to scoop around £56,000.

The race is likely to feature horses that ran in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Turners Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival the previous month, as well as some fresher types who have been held back, normally looking for better ground.

Mersey Novices’ Hurdle Betting Trends and Statistics

• The joint leading trainers with four victories apiece in the race are Martin Pipe with Lemon’s Mill (1993), Cyborgo (1994), Silver Shred (1996) and Classified (2002) and Paul Nicholls with Garde Champetre (2004), Natal (2006), Elusive Dream (2008) and Lac Fontana (2014).
• Gordon Elliott is closing in on Pipe and Nicholls, having won the last three renewals with Three Stripe Life (2022), Irish Point (2023) and Brighterdaysahead (2024) and anything he saddles this year has to be given maximum respect.
• In this century, only four winners of the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham have attempted the double and all four have won.
• Those aged five or six years of age have the best record, winning 25 of the last 28 renewals.
  16 of the past 25 winners had run at the Cheltenham Festival the previous month.

Mersey Novices’ Hurdle History

Established in 1976 and named after the local River Mersey, it was given Grade 2 status in 1991 before it was granted Grade 1 status in 2014 by the British Horseracing Authority. The race has had various sponsors over the years, including Mumm Champagne and Betway Bookmakers. It is currently sponsored by Turners. The 2024 winner was the highly rated Brighterdaysahead.