The Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle is the final race of the Festival and is restricted to apprentice (conditional) jockeys.
It attracts a big field of closely rated runners - usually a compressed handicap with ratings from about 135 to 145.
The race is named after Martin Pipe who trained 34 Festival winners, as well as being champion trainer 15 times.
MARTIN PIPE HURDLE TRENDS
Stamina is a key ingredient in this race, with a fierce end-to-end gallop assured.
The ceiling for ratings was raised to 145 in 2012 and the race tends to go to a horse towards the top of the handicap - the last four winners carried at least 11st 9lb.
Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott are trainers to follow here, but despite being desperate to win the race for obvious reasons, David Pipe’s record currently stands at 0-23.
Last year 8 of the 22 field were aged eight or older, but no horse older than seven has won the Martin Pipe - with lightly raced hurdlers (often novices) coming to the fore.
Gigginstown Stud have had four Martin Pipe Hurdle winners: Sir Des Champs, Don Poli, Champagne Classic and Blow By Blow.
Significantly, in each of those four renewals they had just one representative.
Sir Des Champs (2011) is the only successful favourite so far.
LAST 5 WINNERS’ DATA
PREVIOUS WINNERS
The 2021 Martin Pipe Hurdle winner was Galopin Des Champs - a sixth winner of the week for Willie Mullins:
Indefatigable, snatched a last gasp victory in 2020, despite having to contend with traffic problems.
The mare was the joint biggest-priced winner of the race to date at 25/1:
Jonjo O'Neill Jr delivered the Joseph O'Brien-trained Early Doors to perfection in 2019:
Blow By Blow defied top weight with an accomplished front-running ride by Donagh Meyler, to give Gordon Elliott his second successive win in the race in 2018: