Mares Novices Hurdle Odds 2023

The Mares Novices Hurdle is a Grade 2 race confined to fillies and mares over an extended two miles at the Cheltenham Festival. It was introduced in 2016 as The Dawn Run Mares Novices Hurdle in honour of the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner.

The race was monopolised by Trainer Willie Mullins for the first five seasons; Lumini (2016), Let’s Dance (2017), Laurina (2018), Eglantine Du Seuil (2019) and Concertista (2020). His domination was halted, temporarily at least, by Henry De Bromhead’s Telmesomethinggirl in 2021. The first three winners were all heavily-backed favourites but Eglantine Du Seuil sprang a 50-1 surprise. The Mares Novices Hurdle Odds 2023 has the Mullins-trained duo Dinoblue and Brandy Love disputing favouritism.

 While the first three winners were all heavily-backed favourites, Eglantine Du Seuil shocked the field with a 50/1 upset. This year’s renewal sees a short-priced favourite in Luccia – will she be successful, or will another shock winner land the race?

Latest Mares Novices Hurdle odds *

*Best prices at the time of writing

Luccia 15/8

Lot Of Joy 5/1

Halka Du Tapert 9/1

You Wear It Well 10/1

Magical Zoe 11/1

Under Control 11/1

Foxy Girl 14/1

Princess Zoe 14/1

The Model Kingdom 18/1

Ahorsewithnoname 22/1

Jetara 22/1

Ladybank 28/1

Nikini 28/1

Mullenbeg 33/1

Shecouldbeanything 33/1

Poetic Music 40/1

Endless Escape 50/1

Banntown Girl 66/1

Belle The Lioness 80/1

Still Ciel 80/1

Inspiratrice 125/1

Mares Novices Hurdle Odds and Entries 2023

There’s set to be another big field for this year’s renewal of the Dawn Run, but it is tough to get away from the chances of the Nicky Henderson-trained Luccia.She maintained her unbeaten record in excellent style at Exeter last month, and she is still open to plenty of improvement, having had only four career stats.

The best of the Irish looks like Magical Zoe, whose victory at Down Royal back in November has worked out well form-wise. She’s not been seen since that run last year, and like Luccia, she is open to plenty of improvement.

As mentioned, Willie Mullins has an excellent record in the race, and his best chance of landing the winner appears to be Lot Of Joy, with whom Paul Townend will partner. Lot Of Joy won in fine style at Fairyhouse last month, and it would be no shock to see her close in this contest.

Betting on the Mares Novices Hurdle

The Mares Novices Hurdle was added to the Cheltenham Festival programme in 2016 when the meeting was extended to 28 races. For the first five years it was pointless to look beyond Trainer Willie Mullins for a bet on the Mares Novices Hurdle. He finally released his grip on the race when Henry de Bromhead’s Telmesomethinggirl won in 2021 and British trainers got on the board last year with Harry Fry’s Love Envoi.

The first three renewals were all won by heavily-backed favourites in Limini (2016), Let’s Dance (2017) and Laurina (2018). In 2019 the race was won by 50-1 chance Eglantine Du Seuil, again trained by Mullins but completely overlooked in the Mares Hurdle betting. She defeated 66-1 stable companion Concertista. The Irish trainer continued his monopoly of the race in 2020 when the runner-up returned to go one better at odds of 9-2.

Five-year-olds won the first four renewals while the last three have all gone to six-year-olds. The best trials have been the Solerina Mares Hurdle at Fairyhouse and the Mares Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown, each featuring two subsequent Mares Hurdle winners. Nicky Henderson suffered a setback when Epatante was well beaten in 2019 but has another leading contender this year in the unbeaten Luccia.

Mares Novices Hurdle News

The Mares Novices often attracts a strong field, with top trainers and jockeys competing for the prize, and 2023 looks no exception.

However, there would be no complaints if Henry de Bromhead was to saddle the race winner. The race is being run in honour of de Bromhead’s son Jack who tragically died in a racing accident last year.

De Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore combined to win the race in 2021 with Telmesomethinggirl, and the Waterford trainer will send five runners to post on Thursday as he looks to land an emotional victory.