It is a race that demonstrates the full reach of the sport, with amateur riders getting their day in the spotlight just 40 minutes after the Cheltenham Gold Cup. With so many twists in recent years, we have tried to unearth the crucial stats which will guide us towards the winner of Cheltenham’s Festival Hunters’ Chase.
Age
Unlike any other race at the Cheltenham Festival, the Festival Hunter Chase has seen veterans excel. The last nine renewals have all been won by horses aged either ten or 11. When Premier Magic won the race for Bradley Gibbs last season, he was the fourth ten-year-old winner in a row.
Only four horse below the age of nine have won this since 2004, which possibly speaks to the tricky combination of the 3m2f distance and the amateur riders’ requirement. The race has even seen an equine teenager win since the turn of the millennium as Earthmover won it at 13 in 2004.
Age of the Last 20 Hunter Chase Winners
- 6 or below – 0 winners
- 7 – 2 winners
- 8 – 2 winners
- 9 – 5 winners
- 10 – 7 winners
- 11 – 3 winners
- 12+ – 1 winner
Starting Price
Despite some significant upsets, particularly in recent years, this has not been such a bad race for favourite backers in the last 20 seasons. Five outright market leaders have won the race, while Baby Run was a joint favourite at 9/2 when scoring in 2010. Among those, Salsify, On The Fringe and Billaway have all justified short starting prices of 2/1 and below.
However, those upsets mentioned at the start have been greater in this race than any other at the Festival. The Hunter Chase has seen two 66/1 winners in the last four years, with It Came To Pass as big as 300/1 in some places on the morning of the 2020 renewal. Even repeat winners can escape the punters’ attention, with Pacha Du Polder’s two winning SPs in 2017 and 2018 being 16/1 and 25/1.
Starting Price of the Last 20 Hunter Chase Winners
- Evs-9/2 – 6 winners
- 5/1-9/1 – 4 winners
- 10/1-18/1 – 3 winners
- 20/1+ – 7 winners
Official Rating
With 18 of the last 20 winners possessing official ratings at the time of their victories, the average required rating is 133, although there have been a wide range of winners. On The Fringe, almost certainly the most talented winner of this race in recent years, was rated 147 at the time of his second victory in 2015, though Drombeag in 2007 was rated just 113.
The latter’s rating would not even get you into a handicap at the modern Cheltenham Festival, while the former was borderline Graded class. Much depends on how they have taken to being a hunter chaser and although there is a slight trend towards this race having become a classier one, Premier Magic was the second lowest-rated winner in the last 20 years with a mark of just 122 last year, while 2005 winner Sleeping Night was rated 143, the second highest.
Official Rating of the Last 20 Hunter Chase Winners
- 113-120 – 1 winner
- 121-125 – 4 winners
- 126-130 – 1 winner
- 131-135 – 4 winners
- 136-140 – 5 winners
- 141+ – 3 winners
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