2021 Aintree Hurdle Tips, News and Predictions

Following on from the Bowl on day one of the Grand National Festival is the Aintree Hurdle. 

The Aintree Hurdle is a Grade One staged over two-and-a-half-miles, a trip that attracts horses who ran in both the Champion Hurdle and the Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

The Aintree Hurdle was added to the Grand National Festival schedule in 1976. The 1977 renewal saw a thrilling finish, as Night Nurse and Monksfield crossed the line together, and the stewards were unable to split them, calling it a head-heat.

Monkfiled went on to win the next two editions of the Aintree Hurdle. Dawn Run built on her famous Champion Hurdle win by scoring in the 1984 Aintree Hurdle, and she would go on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup two years later.

Toby Balding won the Aintree Hurdle five times in a row. First with Beech Road in 1989, before Morley Street won the race four times between 1990 and '93.

Danoli won back to back Aintree Hurdles during the 1990s. The great Istabraq also claimed Aintree Hurdle glory in 1999.

Barton won the second of his three Grade Ones at Aintree in the 2001 Aintree Hurdle. John Queally's Al Eile then scored in 2005, before completing a hat-trick in '07 and '08.

Nicky Henderson's Oscar Whisky secured back-to-back wins in 2011 and '12. Henderson has since taken his tally of wins to four, scoring with Buveur D'Air and L'Ami Serge.

Nigel Twiston-Davies has saddled the Aintree Hurdle winner three times, most recently with The New One in 2014. 

Jezki and Annie Power then won twice for Ireland, following their Champion Hurdle successes with wins in the Aintree Hurdle.

Jessica Harrington celebrated her second win in 2019, as Supasundae held off Buveur D'Air to claim victory.