2009 Champion Hurdle

The 2009 Champion Hurdle was a horse race held at Cheltenham Racecourse on Tuesday 10 March 2009. It was the 79th running of the Champion Hurdle.

The winner was Raymond Tooth's Punjabi, a six-year-old gelding trained in Berkshire by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Barry Geraghty. The victory was Henderson's fourth in the race, following See You Then in 1985, 1986 and 1987, and a first in the race for Geraghty..

Punjabi won at odds of 22/1 by a neck from the Triumph Hurdle winner Celestial Halo. The field included four previous winners of the race: Hardy Eustace (2004, 2005), Brave Inca (2006), Sublimity (2007) and Katchit (2008). Twenty-one of the twenty-three runners completed the course.

Race details

 * Sponsor: Smurfit Kappa
 * Purse: £370,000; First prize: £210,937
 * Going: Good to Soft
 * Distance: 2 miles 110 yards
 * Number of runners: 23
 * Winner's time: 4m 00.90

Full result

 * Abbreviations: nse = nose; nk = neck; hd = head; dist = distance; UR = unseated rider; PU = pulled up

Winner's details
Further details of the winner, Punjabi.
 * Sex: Gelding
 * Foaled: 3 April 2003
 * Country: Great Britain
 * Sire: Komaite; Dam: Competa (Hernando)
 * Owner: Raymond Tooth
 * Breeder: J. H. Wilson