Martin Pipe Hurdle Odds 2023

The Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle is the final race of the four-day Cheltenham Festival meeting in March. It is named after the fifteen times Champion National Hunt trainer who enjoyed 34 festival victories including two Champion Hurdles. The race is over two and a half miles and was first run in 2009 with victory going to Nicky Henderson’s Andytown.

Irish trainers have enjoyed plenty of success in this race, winning six of the last eight renewals. Willie Mullins has won it four times, including last year with Galopin Des Champs. The Martin Pipe Hurdle Odds 2023 suggest that trend is likely to continue with fancied runners from Mullins and Gordon Elliott dominating the ante-post betting. A note of caution here though as the last ten favourites have all been beaten.

Martin Pipe Hurdle Odds and Entries 2023

This race was heavily over-subscribed with 110 entries for a maximum 24-runner field. This is partly due to it being an alternative option for horses who fail to make the cut in races like the Coral Cup and County Hurdle. It inevitably means that there are going to be lots of disappointed connections when the final declarations are made.

There is a huge entry from Ireland including nine from Willie Mullins and a remarkable 18 from Gordon Elliott. Of the Mullins entries, State Man and Adamantly Chosen stand out as possible blots on the handicap. They have been rated 141 and 142 respectively on the evidence of one win in a novice hurdle. Deploy The Getaway is another who catches the eye on 140 after being beaten less than a length by the useful Slip Of The Tongue at Punchestown. All three are prominent in the Martin Pipe Hurdle betting odds but still have entries in Cheltenham’s big novice hurdles.

Last year’s runner-up Langer Dan was denied a £50,000 bonus after winning the Imperial Cup at Sandown on his previous start. Dan Skelton has targeted this race again with the six-year-old, although his comeback run at Taunton resulted in a disappointing last of six.

The Philip Hobbs-trained Camprond catches the eye, not seen since finishing fourth in the Greatwood Hurdle in November. He is entered in the Coral Cup but is not guaranteed a run in that race. The same applies to Good Risk At All, a very impressive 9 lengths winner at Ascot in soft ground last month. A 10lbs rise in the weights has left him down at number 66 in the Coral Cup and 48 in the Martin Pipe.

Latest Martin Pipe Hurdle odds *

*Best prices at the time of writing

Langer Dan 5-1

State Man 5-1

Chemical Energy 8-1

Hollow Games 8-1

Adamantly Chosen 10-1

Good Risk At All 11-1

Deploy The Getaway 12-1

Ardhill 14-1

Queens Brook 14-1

Winter Fog 14-1

Banbridge 16-1

Camprond 16-1

Five O’Clock 16-1

I A Connect 16-1

Indigo Breeze 16-1

Knappers Hill 16-1

The Goffer 16-1

Au Fleuron 20-1

Beauport 20-1

Burning Victory 20-1

Carrarea 20-1

Cobblers Dream 20-1

Folcano 20-1

Ganapathi 20-1

Gauloise 20-1

Gowel Road 20-1

Grand Jury 20-1

Jesse Evans 20-1

Betting on the Martin Pipe Hurdle

The Martin Pipe Hurdle is the last of 28 races over four days at the Cheltenham Festival. It is restricted to conditional jockeys and always attracts a maximum field. Hopes of leaving Cheltenham on a winning note with a bet on the Martin Pipe have been dashed for most punters with eleven consecutive beaten favourites.

The last favourite to oblige was Sir Des Champs at 9-2 in 2011. He went on to win the Irish Hennessy Gold Cup and the Punchestown Gold Cup in 2013 and finished second to Bobs Worth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Irish-trained runners have won seven of the last nine renewals and tend to dominate the Martin Pipe Hurdle betting. Other notable winners from the Emerald Isle include Don Poli (2014) and Galopin Des Champs (2021).

This race is always heavily over subscribed with multiple entries from the powerful stables of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott. The introduction of the “non-runner – no bet” concession on all festival races has generated increased turnover on this race rather than having to second guess what each trainer will do. The longest priced winner in recent years was Indefatigable in 2020 at 25-1 while Attaglance returned at 20-1 in 2012.

Martin Pipe Hurdle News

The Martin Pipe Hurdle Odds are likely to change quite dramatically once the final declarations are announced. With Irish trainers Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott currently responsible for ten of the top 26 entries, they will have a big say on the shape of the field for the Cheltenham Festival finale. For example, ante-post favourite State Man has five Cheltenham Festival entries and top weight Burning Victory has four.

With so many permutations, it is very difficult to identify definite runners in the Martin Pipe betting odds. Mullins appears to be favouring the novice hurdle route for State Man, Deploy The Getaway and Adamantly Chosen but any one of those would attract plenty of interest if diverted here.

Elliott’s Chemical Energy was beaten by the useful My Mate Mozzie in November before taking a Fairyhouse novice event. He is one of many here that is also in the Coral Cup. I A Connect is another horse who has attracted support since the “non-runner – no bet” concession was introduced in late January. He won by a nose at Punchestown in November but the margin would have been much greater but for his rider dropping his hands.

Trainer Sam Thomas hoped that his Ascot victory would get Good Risk At All into the Coral Cup field but that is not yet certain. It is a similar story for Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle winner Cobblers Dream, down at 72 in the Coral Cup and more likely to get in here from 52.