Mares' Novices' Hurdle Tips & Odds

The race takes place at 13:20 on Thursday 12th March 2026.

Watch the race live on ITV1 and Racing TV which also offer options to stream the race via their streaming services. 

Alternatively, most betting sites will offer a free live horse racing stream allowing you to watch the race after you've placed a bet.

We only have four winners of the race to choose from in this regard, though Limini and Laurina have both proven to be talented mares later in their careers. Both have since taken on the boys in races, and Laurina has arguably been more successful of the two, building on a succession of wins against her own sex to finish fourth in the 2019 Champion Hurdle - when sent off a well-supported 5/2 second favourite. Laurina will be a seven-year-old at the 2020 Cheltenham Festival, and it will be interesting to see where Willie Mullins decides to campaign her. 

With the Mares' Novices' Hurdle still being a relatively new race, the winner of the race can come from many different avenues, meaning it is worth keeping an eye on mares’ novice contests in both Britain and Ireland for any eye-catchers. Rather interestingly, both Limini and Laurina won the Solerina Mares’ Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse on their way to winning this contest while Let’s Dance and Eglantine Du Seuil both contested graded races in Ireland prior to running at the Festival.

The most successful jockey in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle is Ruby Walsh, with two winners, both of whom were trained by Willie Mullins. Ruby Walsh’s wins in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle came courtesy of Limini (2016) and Let’s Dance (2017). 

Willie Mullins has dominated the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, and has won five of the ten renewals of the race so far, courtesy of Limini (2016), Let’s Dance (2017), Laurina (2018), Eglantine Du Seuil (2019) and Concertista (2020).