The Ryanair Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt Chase which is hosted annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse as part of the Cheltenham Festival. The race covers 2 miles and 5 furlongs and includes a whopping 17 fences. This event is run on Cheltenham's New Course and is open to horses over the age of five years.
When the Cheltenham Festival was extended to a four day event in 2005, the Ryanair Chase was introduced to the UK National Hunt calendar as one of the new races invented to fill the race card of the final day. There had been a similarly structured event before 2005, the Cathcart Challenge Cup; however, it was restricted to horses running in their first and second season only. The Ryanair Chase is one of the youngest Grade 1 event running in the United Kingdom.
The Ryanair Chase is registered as the Festival Trophy but has been referred to by its sponsorship name since its first running and was upgraded to Grade 1 status in 2008. The most successful horse in the history of the race is Albertas Run who won the race in 2010 and 2011. Both Ruby Walsh and Tony McCoy have ridden the winner of the race on two occasions while trainers Paul Nicholls, Jonjo O’Neill and Nicky Henderson have all won the race twice.
| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer |
| 2012 | Riverside Theatre |
8 | Barry Geraghty |
Nicky Henderson |
| 2011 | Albertas Run |
10 | Tony McCoy |
Jonjo O'Neill |
| 2010 | Albertas Run |
9 | Tony McCoy |
Jonjo O'Neill |
| 2009 | Imperial Commander |
8 | Paddy Brennan |
Nigel Twiston-Davies |
| 2008 | Our Vic |
10 | Timmy Murphy |
David Pipe |
| 2007 | Taranis |
6 | Ruby Walsh |
Paul Nicholls |
| 2006 | Fondmort |
10 | Mick Fitzgerald |
Nicky Henderson |
| 2005 | Thisthatandtheother |
9 | Ruby Walsh |
Paul Nicholls |
