1996 Champion Hurdle
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| Champion Hurdle | |
| Location | Cheltenham Racecourse |
|---|---|
| Date | 12 March 1996 |
| Winning horse | Collier Bay (GB) |
| Jockey | Graham Bradley |
| Trainer | Jim Old (GB) |
| Owner | Wally Sturt |
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 the 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.[1]
- Sponsor: Smurfit
- Purse: £208,992; First prize: £127,966
- Going: Good to Soft
- Distance: 2 miles 110 yards
- Number of runners: 16
- Winner's time: 3m 59.00