King of Stats: County Hurdle doesn’t have to be a tough proposition

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A full field of 26 horses charging around Cheltenham’s 2m1f course, luck playing a major part, with the whiff of a few plot horses – spotting the winner of the County Hurdle looks impossible right?

Wrong.

Using the Ladbrokes Lowdown, which features all the stats and trends you need to find the victor, spotting that triumphant combination in the second race on the final day of the Festival couldn’t be any easier.

Using the all important info above, and a few other trends thrown in for good measure, one horse stands head and shoulders above the rest,Waxies Dargle.

The Irish have been responsible for seven of the last 12 winners of the race, and Noel Meade’s charge ticks every single box.

She came down relatively early in the Boylesports Hurdle last time out at Leopardstown, but despite that she could join five of the last winners from the Emerald Isle that took in that race before tasting victory at the Festival.

The trend that is most clear-cut in this race is that horses off a low weight dominate, with just the pair of winners carrying more than 11-2 since 1960.

Off that exact weight, our JP McManus-owned selection just scrapes by.

Nine runs over hurdles mean some improvement is still possible, and it is in these types of big field contests the six-year-old thrives in.

All three wins have come in races with 11 or more runners, while he has run well in plenty of other competitive races.

His maiden victory form looks very strong, with the likes of Daneking, Le Vent D’Antan and All Hell Let Loose in behind that day at Fairyhouse last January.

Rated 134, he meets yet another criteria for our selection in that nine of the last 11 victors were rated in the 130s.

So with the boxes ticked and a likeable profile, don’t worry about spending hours perusing the form, just wax lyrical with Dargle.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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