The Swinton Handicap Hurdle is run over a distance of two miles at Haydock Park, traditionally at the start of May. This feature race takes place during a mixed National Hunt and flat racing card – the last of its kind in the UK.
The race was established in 1978 and at one time was the fourth most lucrative National Hunt race in the UK after the Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle.
The Swinton Hurdle is now the first major prize of the season, as opposed to the last one and more recently successes for Intersky Falcon (2002) and Macs Joy (2004) have shown this prestigious race acting as a valuable stepping stone to greater things when jump racing resumes “proper” in the autumn.
Here are the trends and statistics of the race over the last ten years.
Age
Recent figures suggest that it pays to side with the six to seven year old age bracket in this race. Horses older than eight years old have made the frame just four times in over thirty runners.
You have to go back to 1997 to find a winner older than seven in this race. Nine of the last ten winners were aged between 5 and 7.
Weight
Horses carrying over 11st 7lbs have a terrible record over the last ten years.
Top weights have also fared poorly with only Eradicate (2011) managing to carry the top weight to victory in recent times.
Official Ratings
Horses rated between 129-141 have been victorious nine times in the last ten years.
Eradicate (2011) and War Sound (2015) were the only two horses to the rated in the 140’s.
Form
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5/10 winners finished in the first four on their last outing.
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7/10 winners had at least 1 previous run at Haydock, 4/12 winners had at least 1 previous wins at Haydock.
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9/10 winners had raced in the past fifty days.
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10/10 winners had at least 4 previous runs over 15.5-16.5 furlongs, 9/10 had at least 2 previous wins over 15.5-16.5 furlongs.
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10/10 winners had at least 4 runs over hurdles, 10/10 winners had at least 2 wins over hurdles.
Notable Races
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Horses placed in the first five in the Scottish County Hurdle tend to do well.
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Horses placed in the first six in the Imperial Cup have a good record.
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Horses that ran at one of the Festivals i.e Cheltenham, Aintree, Fairyhouse or Ayr.
Trainer Form
Evan Williams has taken home the spoils in 2013, 2014, 2017 and last year with Silver Streak. Williams is obviously very adept with his spring runners and should be ignored at your peril.
Nicky Henderson had the winner in 2010 and 2011 and has already hit the “new season” running in the last few days. Anything he runs in this worth a second look.
Philip Hobbs has a decent record with his runners in this too and he gives Sternrubin another pop at this valuable prize.
Price
A real mixture of starting prices over the last ten years with seven winners priced between 5/1 and 8/1, and three winners priced between 16/1 and 25/1.
