The last five British-trained winners of the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

Willie Mullins, Henry De Bromhead and Barry Connell have shared the spoils across the last three renewals of the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, continuing a recent trend of Irish dominance in the race that opens the Cheltenham Festival.

For those following horse racing today, however, the question on everyone’s lips is whether Britain can break that sequence in 2026. Nicky Henderson’s Old Park Star heads the market and is the one to beat as connections look to wrestle the title back across the Irish Sea.

Here are the last five British-trained horses to win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.

Constitution Hill (2022)

If you were to sit down and design the perfect Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner, you might just end up with Constitution Hill. Nicky Henderson’s five-year-old did not merely win the race; he redefined what was possible in it.

Sent off a joint-favourite under Nico de Boinville, Constitution Hill surged clear of the field with a devastating turn of foot up the Cheltenham hill, passing the post 22 lengths ahead of his stablemate Jonbon and smashing the course record in the process.

His official rating of 170 was the highest awarded to a novice hurdler since Anglo-Irish Classifications began. The performance drew comparisons to Golden Cygnet’s legendary 1978 triumph and left Henderson, rarely short of superlatives at the Festival, searching for words.

Constitution Hill went on to win the Champion Hurdle the following year, and a run of 10 straight victories, confirming what the 2022 Supreme had suggested: that something quite extraordinary had been unleashed on the hurdling world.

Shishkin (2020)

The 2020 Supreme took place behind closed doors, but Shishkin’s performance was one that deserved a full house. Also trained by Henderson and ridden by De Boinville, the six-year-old showed a level of class on the day that immediately marked him out as a future star.

He was not always straightforward. But Shishkin possessed an abundance of natural talent that more than made up for the occasional quirk. He went on to become one of the most popular horses in training during his chasing career, his rivalry with Energumene producing some of the great two-mile chasing contests of recent years.

Tragically, Shishkin suffered a fatal accident at Seven Barrows, the Henderson yard where he had thrived, leaving a gaping hole in the sport and in the hearts of racing fans who had followed his every step.

Summerville Boy (2018)

Tom George had waited 16 years between Festival winners when Summerville Boy lined up for the 2018 Supreme. His first had been Galileo, successful in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle back in 2002, and the Gloucestershire trainer was not about to let a second opportunity slip.

Ridden by Noel Fehily at 9/1, Summerville Boy produced one of the gutsiest performances the Supreme has seen, overcoming two serious jumping errors in the closing stages, including a dramatic blunder at the penultimate flight that looked to have ended his chances, to collar Kalashnikov on the run-in and win by a neck.

Fehily later reflected that the horse would have won by considerably further with a clean round. It was a victory that spoke to Summerville Boy’s exceptional engine and relentless galloping style, qualities that had already seen him beat the same rival four lengths in the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown.

Altior (2016)

Few horses in recent jump racing history have carried the aura that Altior did, and it all began in the 2016 Supreme. Another trained by Henderson and ridden by De Boinville, Altior defeated a field that included the subsequent Champion Hurdle winner Min and Buveur D’Air, a renewal of remarkable depth.

He was already the subject of enormous anticipation heading into that Festival, and he justified every syllable of it. What followed his Supreme triumph was one of the most relentless unbeaten runs the sport has ever witnessed, stretching across hurdles and fences alike.

A dual Champion Chase winner, multiple Grade 1 victor, and the horse who arguably did more than any other to set the standard for excellence over two miles in the 2010s, Altior’s story started, appropriately, with the Cheltenham Roar.

Cinders And Ashes (2012)

The fifth and final entry on this list belongs to Cinders And Ashes, who gave trainer Donald McCain and jockey Jason Maguire a memorable Supreme success in 2012. McCain, son of the legendary Ginger McCain, was continuing a proud family tradition of Festival success, and Cinders And Ashes delivered on the day in fine style.