1996 Champion Hurdle


The 1996 Champion Hurdle was a horse race held at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday 12 March 1996. It was the 67th running of the Champion Hurdle.
The winner was Wally Sturt's Collier Bay, a six-year-old bay gelding trained in Wiltshire by Jim Old and ridden by Graham Bradley. Collier Bay's victory was a first in the race for jockey, trainer and owner.
Collier Bay, had been unsuccessful flat racer, who had become a good handicapper over hurdles before emerging as a potential champion by defeating Danoli in the Irish Champion Hurdle in January. Starting the 9/1 fourth choice in the betting, he won Champion Hurdle by two and a half lengths from Alderbrook the 1995 winner who started the 10/11 favourite. Fourteen of the sixteen runners completed the course.

Race details


  • Abbreviations: nse = nose; nk = neck; hd = head; dist = distance; UR = unseated rider; PU = pulled up; LFT = left at start; SU = slipped up; BD = brought down

Winner's details

Further details of the winner, Collier Bay