The Ascot Rotary Club Festive Handicap Hurdle , is a Premier Handicap National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of about 1 mile and 7½ furlongs (1 mile 7 furlongs and 152 yards, or 3,156 metres). It is a handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year in December.
The race was first run in Great Britain in 2001 having been staged as The Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle in January at Leopardstown in Ireland prior to that. The Irish race continued under different sponsored titles and is now run as the Liffey Handicap Hurdle. The Ascot race was awarded Grade 3 status in 2013. It continued to be run as the Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle until 2015, and the 2016 running was titled the Wessex Youth Trust Handicap Hurdle. In 2017 the race title promoted the Racing Welfare charity, and from 2018 to 2023 the race was sponsored by Betfair. Ladbrokes returned as sponsor in 2024, and the race took its present title in 2025.
Winners Year Winner Age Weight Jockey Trainer 2001 Marble Arch 5 10-11 Norman Williamson Hughie Morrison 2002 Chauvinist 7 10-00 Norman Williamson Nicky Henderson 2003 Thesis 5 11-02 Brian Crowley Venetia Williams 2005 (Jan) Tamarinbleu 5 10-11 Tony McCoy Martin Pipe 2006 (Jan) Desert Air 7 10-09 Tom Scudamore Martin Pipe 2006 (Dec) Acambo 5 11-09 Timmy Murphy David Pipe 2007 Jack The Giant 5 11-00 Mick Fitzgerald Nicky Henderson 2008 Sentry Duty 6 11-09 Barry Geraghty Nicky Henderson 2009 no race 2009 2010 no race 2010 2011 Raya Star 5 10-01 Wayne Hutchinson Alan King 2012 Cause of Causes 4 10-13 Davy Condon Gordon Elliott 2013 Willow's Saviour 6 10-05 Harry Skelton Dan Skelton 2014 Bayan 5 11-05 Davy Condon Gordon Elliott 2015 Sternrubin 4 10-10 Richard Johnson Philip Hobbs Jolly's Cracked It 6 11-03 Noel Fehily Harry Fry 2016 Brain Power 5 11-11 David Mullins Nicky Henderson 2017 Hunters Call 7 10-03 Jack Kennedy Olly Murphy 2018 Mohaayed 6 11-10 Harry Skelton Dan Skelton 2019 Not So Sleepy 7 10-03 Jonathan Burke Hughie Morrison 2020 Not So Sleepy 8 11-06 Tom O'Brien Hughie Morrison 2021 Tritonic 4 11-00 Adrian Heskin Alan King 2022 no race 2022 2023 Luccia 5 11-08 Paul O'Brien Nicky Henderson 2024 Fiercely Proud 5 10-13 Kielan Woods Ben Pauling 2025 Wilful 6 11-02 Jonjo O'Neill Jr Jonjo & AJ O'Neill
See also Horse racing in Great Britain List of British National Hunt races
References
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