Cheltenham November Meeting GET TIPS

Queen Mother Champion Chase

The Queen Mother Champion Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt Chase held annually in March during the Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse. The race features twelve fences over a distance of two miles. The Queen Mother Champion Chase is established as the top minimum-distance hurdling event in the United Kingdom, awarding a purse of whopping £320,000 and allowing entry to horses aged five years and over.

This fixture was inaugurated in 1959 under the name of the National Hunt Two-Mile Champion Chase. It was not until 1980, the year the Queen Mother celebrated her 80th birthday, that the event was given its current name in honour of the much-loved monarch. Until 2007 the Queen Mother Champion Chase was not a corporately sponsored race; however, since then Seasons Holidays has become the proud sponsor of the prestigious event.

The most successful jump horse in Queen Mother Champion Chase history is Badsworth Boy, who ran three consecutive winning races from 1983 to 1985. The record-winning jockey of the race is still the legendary Pat Taaffe, who rode five winners at the Queen Mother Champion Chase between 1960 and 1970. The fact that records like Taaffe's and the wins of Badsworth Boy remain untouched for decades can be seen not only as a testament of their outstanding sportsmanship and talent, but also as a sign for the tremendous grade of difficulty of the race itself.

Recent Winners Of The Queen Mother Champion Chase:

Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer
2012

Finian's Rainbow

9

Barry Geraghty

Nicky Henderson

2011

Sizing Europe

9

Andrew Lynch

Henry de Bromhead

2010

Big Zeb

9

Barry Geraghty

Colm Murphy

2009

Master Minded

6

Ruby Walsh

Paul Nicholls

2008

Master Minded

5

Ruby Walsh

Paul Nicholls

2007

Voy Por Ustedes

6

Robert Thornton

Alan King

2006

Newmill

8

Andrew J. McNamara

John Joseph Murphy

2005

Moscow Flyer

11

Barry Geraghty

Jessica Harrington