Ryanair Chase

Registered as the Festival Trophy, the race that is nowadays better known as the Ryanair Chase was inaugurated in 2005, when the Cheltenham Festival was extended from three days to four. It was run once under the auspices of the Daily Telegraph, unsurprisingly as the Daily Telegraph Festival Trophy Chase, but has been sponsored by the Irish low-cost airline group ever since.

Run over the intermediate distance of two miles and four and a half furlongs on the New Course at Cheltenham, the Ryanair Chase was promoted to Grade 1 status in 2008 and is now described by the ‘Racing Post’ as the ‘feature’ race on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival. Indeed, the Ryanair Chase is worth £375,000 in guaranteed prize money, whereas the Stayers’ Hurdle, which it precedes by 40 minutes, is worth £50,000 less.

The omnipresent Willie Mullins is the leading trainer in the history of the Ryanair Chase, having saddled Vautour (2016), Un de Sceaux (2017), Min (2020) and Allaho (2021, 2022). Indeed, the last-named is one of just two horses to have won the race twice, the other being Albertas Run, trained by Jonjo O’Neill, who recorded back-to-back victories under Tony McCoy in 2010 and 2011.

From a punting perspective, the good news is that just two of the last 10 winners, Uxizandre in 2015 and Protektorat in 2024, came from outside the first three in the betting and four of them were sent off outright favourite. It is also worth noting that nine of the last 10 winners achieved at least one first- or second-placed finish in their last two starts.