Cheltenham Festival Race Facts – National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup

The oldest race at the Festival and the race around which the original Festival was built, this year will be the 141st year of the National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup. The race had been run at a number of venues until it became a part of the new two-day National Hunt Festival at Cheltenham in 1911. It had also been run at Cheltenham in 1904 and 1905.

One of the strange things about this race is that the longest race in the calendar is restricted to novices, both equine and human. The four-mile National Hunt Chase is the longest race run at The Festival. The race was reduced in distance by a furlong in 2008 and reverted back to the Old Course. The race is usually one of the best supported at The Festival, with very competitive fields each year but there is a safety limit of 20 in place. It's worth bearing in mind that Paul Nicholls has a terrible record in the race, so it may be worth avoiding his runners.

The race has proved a good guide to future success in recent seasons. The 2007 winner Butler's Cabin subsequently won the Irish Grand National, while 2006 victor Hot Weld landed a memorable double in 2007 by collecting the Scottish National and the Sandown Gold Cup in the space of a week.

Last year was notable for the fact that the finish was contested by two of the finest lady jockeys of their generation with Katie Walsh (Poker De Sivola) beating her great rival and friend Nina Carberry (Becauseicouldntsee) in a driving finish. The winner was a major gamble at the Festival previously and he gained compensation here, given a patient ride he stayed on well up the hill to win by 2 ¼ lengths. The runner-up ended up running on just three shoes and could not hold up at the finish – the 4M trip just finding out his stamina. Prudent Honour belying his odds, and his maiden tag over fences stayed on well to claim third to complete the first three.
With only one outright winning favourites since 1992 it was no surprise to see this year's favourite fail to carry the hoodoo - Mobaasher, who has a mind of his own was never really on a going day here but plugged on for a respectable fifth, failing to end the run of beaten favourites.

The favourite has a terrible record in the race, especially if Irish trained. Favourites are regularly sent off far too short and regularly disappoint with just one outright market leader obliging in the last 19 years, of which six failed to complete and four were pulled up.

Five and six-year-olds are always the first runners to be dismissed from consideration in this race – the long trip and nature of the race is just too tough for them. There has only been one winner from that age group since 1989 and that was the 2009 winner Tricky Trickster who took the Grade Two AON Chase at Newbury the following year. Horses that finished unplaced should also be dismissed - 25 of the last 27 winners finished in the first 4 last time out and the last 3 winners finished in the first 2 last time out. Meanwhile, if you do want to back a Paul Nicholls horse, you're probably betting sticking to the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Most of all avoid supporting the favourite, especially short priced ones from Ireland.