The Triumph Hurdle has been a fixture of the Cheltenham Festival since 1968, but was inaugurated in 1939 at Hurst Park, where it continued until the closure of the Surrey course in 1962. Run over two miles and a furlong on the New Course and restricted to juvenile – that is, four-year-old – hurdlers, the race is currently scheduled as the opening race on the fifth and final day of the Cheltenham Festival, Gold Cup Day. The Grade 1 contest has been sponsored by J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited (JCB) since 2002.
The most prolific jockey in the history of the Triumph Hurdle remains Barry Geraghty, who retired from the saddle in 2020, with five winners to his name. Geraghty became stable jockey to Nicky Henderson following the retirement of the previous incumbent, Mick Fitzgerald, in August 2008 and remained in that position until June 2015, when he succeeded the recently-retired Tony McCoy as retained rider to high-profile owner John Patrick ‘J.P.’ McManus.
Gergaghty rode his first Triumph Hurdle winner, Spectroscope, trained by Jonjo O’Neill, in 2003. During his time as stable jockey at Seven Barrows, he rode three more, Zaynar in 2009, Soldatino in 2010 and Peace And Co in 2015. Finally, in the famous green and gold silks of McManus, he completed his quintet of wins on Ivanovich Gorbatov, trained by Aidan O’Brien, in 2016. For the sake of completeness, it may come as no surprise to learn that Nicky Henderson is the leading trainer in the history of the Triumph Hurdle, having saddled First Bout (1985), Alone Success (1987), Katarino (1999) and Pentland Hills (2019) in addition to the three winners previously mentioned.
