Ascot Chase

Ascot Chase Overview

The Ascot Chase is a Grade 1 Steeplechase that is run usually each February. It attracts high-class chasers over an extended two-and-a-half-mile trip. It often serves as a trial for the Ryanair Chase around six weeks down the line. However, in recent years only one horse (Cue Card, 2013) has been good enough to win this and then score again at the Cheltenham Festival.

The race is run at Ascot and there are seventeen fences to be jumped. The race carries a valuable first prize of almost £100,000. The most recent renewal saw Pic D’Orhy cause a minor upset when beating L’Homme Presse and Ahoy Senor on rain-softened ground. The nine-year-old trained by Paul Nicholls made all in the race and turned his opponents away one by one. He went on to record a facile five-length win.

Ascot Chase Betting Trends and Statistics

• The leading trainer in the Ascot Chase in recent years is Paul Nicholls who has won the race four times.
• Those four winners came from Kauto Star (2008), Silviniaco Conti (2016), Cyrname (2019) and Pic D’Orhy (2024) .
• Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Ascot Chase are Nicky Henderson (3), Alan King (2) and Nicky Richards (2). David Pipe has never won this race despite trying on five separate occasions.
• The leading jockey in the Ascot Chase in recent years is Harry Cobden who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from Cyrname (2019) and Pic D’Orhy (2024).
• Nico De Boinville and Mark Walsh have perfect records in the race though winning with their only previous rides in it.
• A jockey to avoid in this race is Daryl Jacob, who has only made the frame once from five previous rides in it.
• The race usually takes five-and-a-half minutes to run and only four favourites have obliged out of the last ten renewals.
• No horse in the last ten years has won this at a bigger starting price of 4/1, so the winner usually comes from near the top of the market and this is not a race for outsiders.

Ascot Chase History

The Ascot Chase was first established back in 1995. Its original name was the Comet Chase and it was run across a distance of 2 miles and 3 and a half furlongs. This was altered when the race made a temporary switch of venue to Lingfield Park due to Ascot Racecourse undergoing some renovation work. The current length was confirmed for the race in 2008, one year after the race made its return to Ascot.

This race had traditionally been held on a Wednesday for the first few years of its existence having originally replaced the Whitbread Trial Handicap, now reincarnated as the Swinley Chase, that had been run since 1966. However, the day of the race was changed to a Saturday in 1999 and it has remained that way to this present day.

Ascot Chase Winners