The fifth race on day one, the Mares’ Hurdle rose to prominence due to the outstanding exploits of six-time winner Quevega. The likes of Apple’s Jade and Honeysuckle have also claimed the race run directly after the Champion Hurdle, and we have looked at previous runnings to guise you towards the winner in 2024.
Age
A horse between every age of five and ten has claimed the Mares’ Hurdle, although that is mainly because Quevega won her six editions of this race between those ages. If you take her away from the equation, which is useful on a trends basis, six of the other ten runnings have been won by seven-year-olds.
Equally, Quevega is both the only eight-year-old and ten-year-old to triumph in the race. Overall, this is generally a race which favours younger legs, with only Honeysuckle, aside from the six-time champion, having won this above the age of seven, with Apple’s Jade and Whiteoak providing positive ammunition for Lossiemouth fans as other five-year-olds to triumph.
Age of All Mares’ Hurdle Winners
- 5 – 3 winners
- 6 – 2 winners
- 7 – 7 winners
- 8 – 1 winner
- 9 – 2 winners
- 10+ – 1 winner
Starting Price
You won’t be surprised to read that this is another trend significantly skewed because of Quevega’s brilliance. Eight favourites have obliged in the Mares’ Hurdle, but Quevega is responsible for six of those, four of which came at odds-on. The only other outright favourite to claim the race was Vroum Vroum Mag in 2016, primarily due to Annie Power’s fall at the last in the previous year.
In the ten renewals without Quevega, this means that just one outright favourite has triumphed, with Honeysuckle only a joint market leader in 2023. The remaining runnings are split between four winners relatively near the head of the betting (below 6/1) and those starting at double-figure odds. The biggest outsider to score remains the inaugural winner, Whiteoak, at 20/1.
Starting Price of All Mares’ Hurdle Winners
- <Evs – 5 winners
- 11/10-2/1 – 2 winners
- 9/4-6/1 – 5 winners
- 13/2-9/1 – 0 winners
- 10/1+ – 4 winners
Official Rating
Once again, we have to complete some “with and without Quevega” calculations to provide a fair reflection of the race. If we include her, the average rating required would be 152 to win the Mares’ Hurdle. Her peak was 167 when claiming her sixth successive victory in 2014, while only Honeysuckle can surpass any of her winning ratings from her first to her sixth.
Taking away Quevega, the requisite rating drops substantially to 148. Even though the race is now a Grade 1, you still do not have to be an established champion. Marie’s Rock was rated just 140 when scoring in 2022, though even she was rated 11lb higher than Whiteoak, who is comfortably the lowest-rated heroine in the race at 129. It is also telling that the three British-trained winners possessed the lowest three ratings, with Roksana’s 142 5lb lower than Benie Des Dieux’s 147, the lowest-rated Irish winner.
Official Rating of All Mares’ Hurdle Winners
- <140 – 1 winner
- 140-144 – 2 winners
- 145-149 – 2 winners
- 150 – 154 – 3 winners
- 155-159 – 6 winners
- 160+ – 2 winners
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