The oddschecker team explains the difference between a Hurdle and a Chase in National Hunt racing, with an eye on the Cheltenham Festival.
A chase is a division for horses to compete over fences, the larger obstacles. A chase race can be run over various distances and what’s different about this sphere compared to hurdles, is that chasing can be run over marathon trips.
Races such as the Classic Chase, the four Nationals and the Bet365 Gold Cup are just a sample of the longer distance events that take place in a season - something you won’t see over hurdles.
A hurdle race is competed over smaller obstacles and can be used for horses starting their career over jumps or for those who might have not performed well over fences and revert back to hurdles for a confidence-booster if a chasing campaign didn’t go to plan. Some horses can permanently stay over hurdles while others can use these events for a season or two before going chasing.
Some of the best examples of good hurdlers going on to make even better chasers in recent times would be Faugheen (pictured above), Altior, Sprinter Sacre, Bobs Worth and Minella Indo (Gold Cup winner in 2021). The pick of the pile, however, would be Dawn Run, who is the only horse to complete the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup double.
In total, across the four-days at the Cheltenham Festival, there are 28 races. 13 of those are run over the smaller obstacles and 13 over the larger obstacles, while there is a single flat race - the Champion Bumper - and the Cross Country, held on specialist obstacles in the centre of the course.
The four feature races across the Cheltenham Festival are all are classed as 'Championship' races - the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday, Champion Chase on Wednesday, Stayers' Hurdle on Thursday and the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the closing Friday.
