National Hunt Handicap Chase

The National Hunt Handicap Chase 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 as from 2025 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 Handicap Chase  Overview

The National Hunt Steeple Chase handicap Challenge 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 a handicap for novice chasers only and is run as the last race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival every year.

National Hunt Handicap Chase Betting Trends and Statistics

• Willie Mullins has the best recent record having won the contest 4 times in the last 13 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 15 races going across the Irish Sea.
• 13 of the last 16 winners had all contested a graded novice chase earlier in their career.
• The most likely age to score is seven or eight years of age as 26 of the last 35 winners were in that age bracket.
• The market is usually a good guide to the likely winner with 12 of the last 15 victors returning at single-figure odds.
• Previous Cheltenham form is a big positive with 11 of the past 16 winners having run at the previous year’s Festival with 3 of the last 5 finishing in the first four a year earlier.

National Hunt Handicap Chase  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 2025 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) and  Galvin (2021)

National Hunt Handicap Chase Winners