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Currently scheduled as the final race on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, the National Hunt Chase – strictly, the National Hunt Challenge Cup – has the distinction of being run at the March showpiece more frequently than any other. However, what was the traditional ‘four miler’ has undergone significant changes in the last decade, having been shortened to its current distance of three and three-quarter miles in 2020 and, more recently, downgraded to a 0-145 novices’ handicap and no longer be confined to amateur jockeys.

The decision to allow professional jockeys to ride in the race attracted criticism from the most successful trainer of all time at the Cheltenham Festival, Willie Mullins. He said, “I thought that was a backwards move. They’ve been messing around with the race for years and have not made it any better.”

Patrick Mullins, son of Willie, has won the National Hunt four times, on Back In Focus (2013), Rathvinden (2018), Stattler (2022), and Gaillard Du Mesnil (2023), and is the leading jockey since World War II. Jackdaws Castle handler Jonjo O’Neill, who nowadays shares a licence with his youngest son, A.J., saddled Front Line (1995), Rith Dubh (2002), Sudden Shock (2003), Native Emperor (2004), Butler’s Cabin (2007) and Minella Rocco (2016) for a total of six wins and is the leading trainer. The aforementioned Gaillard Du Mesnil was the last winning favourite, but there have been just four in the last 20 renewals; that situation is unlikely to improve now that the race has lost its previous Grade 2 status.

Registered as the Festival Trophy, the Ultima Handicap Chase has been sponsored by IT service management company Ultima Business Solutions since 2015 and run under its current title ever since. Currently scheduled as the third race on Day One of the Chelteham Festival, a.k.a. ‘Champion Day’, the Ultima Handicap Chase has the distinctiion of being the first of a dozen handicap races run during the four days.

Run over three miles and a furlong on the Old Course at Cheltenham, the Ultima Handicap Chase is open to horses aged five years and upwards, although the six-year-old Coo Star Sivola, trained by Nick Williams and ridden by Lizzie Kelly, in 2018, remains the youngest winner since the turn of the century. Fred Rimmell and Fulke Walwyn remain the leading trainers in the history of the race with four winners apiece, while jockeys Robert Thornton and Tom Scudamore both rode three winners.

The Ultima Handicap Chase has proved something of a trial for the Grand National down the years, with Royal Tan (1952), Team Spirit (1963), West Tip (1985), Seagram (1991), Rough Quest (1995) and Corach Rambler (2022, 2023) all subsequently successful in the world-famous steeplechase. Indeed, Seagram and Corach Rambler completed that notable double in the same season. Unlike many of the races at the Cheltenham Festival in recent seasons, Irish-trained winners of the Ultima Handicap Chase have been few and far between. Indeed, at the time of writing, only Dun Doire, trained in County Meath by Tony Martin, in 2006 has been the only winner trained in the Emerald Isle in the last 20 renewals.

Run over the minimum distance of two miles on the Old Course at Prestbury Park, the Arkle Challenge Trophy is currently scheduled as the second race on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. As such, it is the second of the 14 Grade 1 races run during the four days, after the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Established, in its current guise, in 1969, the race commemorates Arkle, arguably the greatest steeplechaser of all time.

The Arkle Challenge Trophy is open to novice steeplechasers – or, in other words, horses that, prior to the start of the current season, have not won a race over fences – aged five years and upwards. Granted that it is the premier race of its kind in the National Hunt calendar, it should come as no surprise to learn that winners often return to the Cheltenham Festival to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, Moscow Flyer (2002), Azertyuiop (2003), Voy Por Ustedes (2006), Sizing Europe (2010), Sprinter Sacre (2012), Altior (2017) and Put The Kettle On (2020) all won the two-mile steeplechasing championship the folllowing year.

Upper Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson, who saddled Sprinter Sacre and Altior, plus Remittance Man (1991), Travado (1993), Tiutchev (2000), Simonsig (2013) and Shishkin (2021), is the leading trainer in the history of the Arkle Challenge Trophy. His erstwhile stable jockey, Barry Geraghty, who rode Sprinter Sacre and Simsonsig, plus Moscow Flyer for Jessica Harrington and Forpadydeplasterer (2009) for Tom Cooper, is jointly the leading rider, alongside compatriot Ruby Walsh, with four winners.