Grand Annual Chase

The Grand Annual Chase, or the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase, as the race has been titled since 2005, is currently scheduled as the penultimate race on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival. The late Johnny Henderson, father of Upper Lambourn trainer Nicky, was a founder member of the Racecourse Holdings Trust, which was credited with safeguarding the future of Cheltenham Racecourse in the sixties.

Nowadays classified as a ‘Premier Handicap’ by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the race has, since 2021, been run over two miles on the Old Course at Prestbury Park. The Grand Annual Chase was originally established in 1834 and, as such, has the distinction of being the oldest steeplechase run in Britain, for all that is was discontinued for much of the second half of the nineteenth century.

Following a review by the BHA, published in late 2018, the safety limit for the Grand Annual Chase was reduced from 24 to 20, making it marginally less competitive than some of the other Festival handicaps. Nevertheless, Dulwich, way back in 1976, remains the last horse to win the race more than once and, at the time of writing, Chosen Mate, trained by Gordon Elliott, was the sole winning favourite in the last decade. Indeed, winners at 66/1, 28/1 (twice), 22/1 and four more at double-figure prices in the same period demonstrate that the Grand Annual Chase is hardly a giveaway from a punting perspective. Paul Nicholls, with four winners – St Pirran (2004), Andreas (2007), Solar Impulse (2016) and Le Prezien (2018) – is the most successful trainer since World War II.