The 2022 Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle: statistics, trends, history and video replays

__All you need to know about the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham Racecourse on Wednesday 16 March.

When and where can I watch the race?: 2.30pm on Wednesday 16 March, live on Racing TV.

Which Grade? Grade Three. What course? Old Course. What distance? 2m 5f (10 hurdles).

Prize-money? £75,000

What ages? For 4yo+. Weights and allowances: Handicap

Sponsor: Coral

Key statistics and trends:

On the up:

10 of the last 15 winners were second-season hurdlers.

Bad race for favourites:

17 of the past 18 favourites have all suffered defeat. The well-backed Dame De Compagnue bucked the trend in style in 2020, but 6/1F Grand Roi could only finish 12th last year in a contest won by 33/1 chance Heaven Help Us.

Age:

All bar three of the winners this century were aged between five and seven.

Ratings:

22 of the 26 winners were officially rated no higher than 147. The exceptions have all come in recent years though, suggesting a higher-quality contest. They are William Henry (151) in 2019, Whisper (153) in 2014, Diamond King (149) in 2016 and Supasundae (148) in 2017.

Fresh:

15 of the last 16 winners had not run within at least 32 days of the Festival.

The last 73 horses to run in this before 2019 with headgear had all been beaten. However, William Henry broke that hoodoo in with victory in cheekpieces while Dame De Compagnie wore a hood en-route to victory in 2020. Last year's winner Heaven Help Us was wearing cheekpieces.

Unexposed:

Only four winners since 2000 had run more than nine times over hurdles. William Henry is a recent exception, with 10 runs over hurdles before victory in 2019. Last year's winner Heaven Help Us had seven previous starts over hurdles in addition to extensive bumper experience and a recent spell over fences.

Festival experience not a worry:

15 of the last 21 winners had not raced at the Festival previously.

Race History:

The Coral Cup, run over two miles and five furlongs, was introduced in 1993 and is one of the season’s most competitive handicaps.

The first-ever winner, Olympian, picked up a £50,000 bonus having won the Imperial Cup at Sandown Park the previous weekend.

The bonus was put up by Sunderlands - then sponsor of the Imperial Cup - to any horse that won the Sandown race and went on to success in any Festival contest. The incentive has been continued by other sponsors and Matchbook have since increased the bonus to £100,000.

The 2008 winner Naiad Du Misselot was the first Festival winner to succeed by a nose, only a recently introduced new distance at the time. No horse has won the race more than once.

Last eight winners:

Heaven Help Us was not for catching out in front and powered clear by no less tha nine lengths to triumph at 33-1 in one of the stories of the week for trainer and breeder Paul Hennessy and 7lb claimer Richie Condon.

The mare is only one of three horses in training for renowned greyhound trainer Hennessy and the result was in little doubt after the last, finishing well clear of Craighneiche (17/2) in second with Tea Clipper (33/1) two and a quarter lengths back in third. Sayo (28/1) and Janika (33/1) were a neck and short head further back in fourth and fifth.

"She’s just amazing - I can’t describe her," said Hennessy. "We bred her, she was born at home and I’ve raised her. The places she’s brought us are just ridiculous. It’s amazing. There she goes, she’s my Enable.

"It’s off the planet to win here. I must be dreaming. Thanks be to God - I can’t believe what’s happening. We needed a miracle, and, Heaven Help Us, we got one."#

The trainer and Conden receioved a guard of honour in the paddock after Festival glory.

"It's unbelievable," said the jockey. "For the Irish jockeys to give me a guard of honour on the way in was really special. We are like a family back in Ireland and all great sportsmen.

"It’s my first experience over here and I’m absolutely delighted. You dream about these kind of things and for it to happen in such an early stage in my career it hasn’t sunk it in yet. That’s it now, one ride, one winner. I can go home to Ireland a happy boy.

“I’m disappointed the pubs aren’t open but back home in Ireland we are dairy farmers and there probably won’t be a cow milked for a week.

Dame De Compagnie (5-1F) ran out a ready and well-backed winner of this fiendishly competititive handicap to add further gloss to a brilliant week for trainer Nicky Henderson, jockey Barry Geraghty and owner J P McManus.

The mare travelled very sweetly behind the front cohort of runners off a fairly relaxed pace for such a big-field Festival contest, and looked to be going best turning in. She was made to fight after the final flight, but asserted again near the finish to deny Black Tears (12-1) by two and a quarter lengths with Thosedaysaregone the same distance back in third. Another Irish runner, Cracking Smart, finished fourth.

"There wasn't that head-long Coral dash you normally get with a lot of horses flat to the boards," said Henderson. "She is a lovely mare this and she is tough. It is always a very competitive race, but she was very good."

McManus said: "She looked good. I thought they maybe weren't going fast enough for her, but Barry always looked to be in a good position. Barry is very much the man of the moment!"

Seven Barrows maestro Nicky Henderson became the joint winning-most trainer in the race’s history alongside Martin Pipe with a third victory in the two miles and five furlongs contest following William Henry’s last-gasp 28/1 success.

Held up in the early stages of the contest by Nico de Boinville, the son of King’s Theatre still had plenty to do after the final flight. However, he thundered up the punishing Cheltenham hill to deny fan favourite, the late Wicklow Brave with a short-head success.

He finished the season with a creditable fourth stepped up to three miles in the Ryanair Stayers’ Hurdle at Aintree in April.

Not a bad spare for Mark Walsh, one of Ireland’s top jockeys who tasted Festival success for the first time by delivering the seven-year-old with a well-timed challenge to beat Topofthegame by a neck at 20-1.

Jockey Paul Townend switched to Max Dynamite after injury to Ruby Walsh in the preceding race and the late substitute was at his cool best on Bleu Berry, settled right at the back off a good gallop and brought into contention as the field bunched up turning down the hill.

“You don’t want to ride a winner like that but I’m just delighted to be called up by Willie,” said the winning rider. “We got the splits, he winged the last and everything went to plan.”

Supasundae, representing Jessica Harrington and the Potts family, had run respectably in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper and Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the previous two Festivals, without ever really threatening but he made it third-time lucky by edging into the lead on the home turn and staying on strongly under Robbie Power to see off Taquin Du Seuil by two comfortable lengths.

It was to be a momentous week for this owner-trainer-jockey combination, who combined to win the Gold Cup with Sizing John on the final day.

Supasundae has progressed further to upset Faugheen in the Irish Champion Hurdle and he was runner-up in last year's Stayers’ Hurdle.

The handicapper had had his say after Diamond King trounced five rivals at Punchestown on his previous start and a 13lb higher mark in this hotly-contested handicap demanded plenty more from the Gordon Elliott-trained eight-year-old, but he had clearly been laid out for this and he had all the right answers on the day.

Held up by Davy Russell, who was riding his third winner of the race, he was still on the bridle two-out and, once the button was pushed, Diamond King motored up the inside to clear away after the last and win decisively.

It’s almost unheard of for a horse making their debut on British soil to land one of the most competitive handicaps in the calendar, but that’s exactly what Aux Ptits Soins did in 2015.

Although he had won both hurdles starts in France, the John Hales-owned five-year-old was returning from a 181-day absence and having just his fourth career start, so this was a tall order even allowing for the fact that he was potentially nicely treated on his French form.

On that basis, this goes down as one of the great training performances from Paul Nicholls and his team at Ditcheat, who produced the horse superbly on the day, but connections seemed to have a good idea they had something special on their hands, as the trainer said afterwards: "Aux Ptits Soins did two brilliant bits of work and Nick Scholfield said he was the best horse he has ever sat on but it's different doing it in a race. Homework doesn't really tell you anything."

Whisper became the highest-ever rated winner of this event when prevailing by a short-head off a mark of a BHA mark of 153, although he was aided by the 5lb claim of rider Nico De Boinville, which ultimately proved the difference between defeat and victory given the winning margin over Get Me Out Of Here.

The young jockey would have taken great pride from the fact that it was the great Tony McCoy whom he got the better of in a ding-dong tussle to the line.

Whisper was improving at a rate of knots at that time, so much so that he went on to beat At Fishers Cross in the Grade One Stayers’ Hurdle at Aintree the following month and has latterly become a fine chaser.

What Medinas lacked in size he more than made up for in heart and he forged past his better-fancied stablemate Meister Eckhart up the hill to post a career-best performance and cause a 33-1 boil over under Wayne Hutchinson.

He had won the Welsh Champion Hurdle on his previous start and Alan King, who was winning the Coral Cup for the first time, had thought that a subsequent 8lb rise meant Medinas would likely struggle against better-handicapped rivals, saying “I fancied the second more, I thought Medinas was handicapped out of it”.

He was a tough horse on a roll, and he went on to win at Graded level in Newbury’s Long Distance Hurdle.