National Hunt Chase Cup

The National Hunt Chase Cup is the last race on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. The race was registered as the National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Novices’ Chase but this will be the first year that it will be run as a handicap race and be open to professional riders. It is the race that has been run the most times at the Festival and attracts novice chasers.

National Hunt Chase Cup Overview

The National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup is a Grade Two chase for amateur riders open to horses aged five years or older. It is run over 3 miles, 5 furlongs and 201 yards of the old course where there will be twenty-three fences to be jumped. The race is for novice chasers only and is run as the last race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival every year.

National Hunt Chase Cup Betting Trends and Statistics

• Willie Mullins has the best recent record having won the contest 4 times in the last dozen years whilst fellow Irishman Gordon Elliot also has a good record winning it four times between 2011 and 2020 and having several placed horses.
• Ireland overall has an excellent record in the race with 10 of the last 14 races going across the Irish Sea.
• 13 of the last 15 winners had all contested a graded novice chase earlier in their career including last year’s winner Corbetts Cross.
• The most likely age to score is seven or eight years of age as 25 of the last 34 winners were in that age bracket.
• The market is usually a good guide to the likely winner with 11 of the last 14 victors returning at single-figure odds.
• Previous Cheltenham form is a big positive with 11 of the past 15 winners having run at the previous year’s Festival with 3 of the last 4 finishing in the first four a year earlier.

National Hunt Chase Cup History

In its 165th year, the National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup has been run more times than any other event at the Cheltenham Festival. The only time that professional jockeys have raced in the contest before this year was back in 2021 due to COVID restrictions.

Some notable racehorses to have won the race in modern times include Topsham Bay (1990), Hot Weld (2006), Back In Focus (2013), Tiger Roll (2017), Galvin (2021) and last year’s winner Gaillard Du Mesnil.

National Hunt Chase Cup Winners