We take a look back at the stats from past Champion Chase races, bringing you all the most important trends to keep an eye out for when placing your bet.
Established in 1959, the Champion Chase is one of the most prestigious events at the Cheltenham Festival, with legendary racehorses such as Flyingbolt, Badsworth Boy, and Altior among its winners. With such a rich history to draw from, we’ve decided to look back on previous editions of the race to search for trends among the winning horses.
And if you’re looking to place a bet on the Champion Chase during the next Cheltenham Festival, you may want to keep these stats in mind to inform your decision. Here are some of the key Champion Chase winners’ trends to be aware of when watching the action:
Key Champion Chase trends
The Champion Chase is competed between horses over the age of five. The course is a left-handed track with a distance of just under two miles, with 13 fences to be jumped. This makes it the most prestigious minimum-distance chase in the National Hunt racing calendar.
A winning horse needs strength, stamina, speed, and impeccable jumping form to clear the course. They also need the mental toughness to focus on the race without being distracted by other horses or the crowd. While these are the physical characteristics of a winner, some other details can impact a horse’s performance in the race. Here are some of the other key Champion Chase trends to keep in mind when betting:
Does the favourite usually win the Champion Chase?
Curiously, it’s not often that the favourite wins the Champion Chase, with just three of the last 10 winners starting the race with the best-rated odds. Looking back further, this trend has continued for many years, with just five favourites winning the last 15 editions of the race, and six across the last 20.
Many horses who have won the Champion Chase as the favourite in recent years are back-to-back winners, riding the momentum of a previous victory into the next year’s race. So, while they weren’t necessarily favourite the first time around, they were ahead of their second win.
Master Minded (2008-09) and Energumene (2022-23) have all placed first when racing as favourites in their second races, while Altior (2018-19) was also considered the favourite heading into his first victory. He joins Sprinter Sacre (2013) and Sire De Grugy (2014) as the only horses to win their first Champion Chase as the favourites in the last 20 years.
What is the average age of a Champion Chase-winning horse?
The oldest Champion Chase winner in history was Skymas, who was 12 years old when he won in 1977. Over the last decade, though, younger horses have been favoured to win the event. The average age of the previous 10 Champion Chase winners is 7.9, with Sprinter Sacre (2013), Dodging Bullets (2015), and Put The Kettle On (2021) all tying as the youngest winners of the decade at seven years old.
How many Champion Chase winners won last time out?
For the last six years, the winner of the Champion Chase hasn’t placed first at their most recent race before the event, so it’s not necessarily something you should pay too much attention to if you’re hoping to pick a winner. In fact, the last horse to continue a winning streak going into the chase was Altior, who won both his previous races during his back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019.
This seems to be a newer Champion Chase trend, though: there have been six instances in the previous 15 years and ten in the last 20. Could it be that this race is one that’s become more prone to upsets in the 2020s?
When did Champion Chase winners last compete?
Across the last 10 winners, there was an average gap of 55.5 days between the horse’s previous race and their Champion Chase victory. The winner with the shortest time between races before their victory was Altior in 2018, who competed just 32 days after claiming victory at Newbury.
On the other hand, Put The Kettle On had the longest wait between races before his win. He was on standby for 80 days before going on to win the Champion Chase in 2021.
Are Champion Chase winners usually British or Irish-trained?
In recent years, Irish trainers have dominated the Champion Chase, with all of the last five winning horses being trained in Irish stables. Looking back through the last twenty years, though, the battle between British and Irish trainers seems much more competitive than first impressions indicate.
Over the last 10 years, six Irish-trained winners have been recorded compared to four British-trained winners. However, a winning streak for British trainers between 2012 and 2016 means that Britain leads eight to seven over the last 15 years and 11 to nine over the last 20. How might this year’s battle pan out?
Which trainer has had the most success in the Champion Chase?
The trainers with the most career wins in the Champion Chase are Tom Dreaper, Nicky Henderson, and Paul Nicholls, who are currently in a three-way tie with six wins apiece. Incidentally, all three feature among the top ten most successful Cheltenham trainers!
Dreaper was a dominant force in the race’s early years, training two-time winner Fortria and Cheltenham icon Flyingbolt, before passing away in 1975. Since then, Henderson has equalled his record with Altior’s second win in 2019, while Nicholls’ sixth win came from Politologue in 2020.
Why is it important to consider Champion Chase trends?
Conducting your own research before the Champion Chase can help you learn more about the horses competing, as well as showing you the form of the competitors. You can use what you know to help inform your decision on which horse to bet on. For example, by paying attention to the age of previous winners, you can choose a horse of a similar age.
If you’re looking to learn more about Cheltenham betting in general, head to our Cheltenham blog for the latest guides, tips, and picks to help you boost your play.
Champion Chase recent winners
The most recent winner of the Champion Chase was Marine Nationale, a horse owned and trained by Irishman Barry Connell, whom Sean Flanagan rode to victory against the bookies’ favourite, Jonbon.
Other past winners include Captain Guinness, who Rachael Blackmore rode in 2024 to become the first female Champion Chase-winning jockey, and Energumene, a Willie Mullins-trained horse who claimed back-to-back victories in 2022 and 2023 with Paul Townend as his jockey.
You can learn more about the Champion Chase winners with our handy guide to the history of the competition.
