Game Spirit Chase

The Game Spirit Chase is a Grade 2 race over two miles at Newbury in February. The race is an important trial for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Famous past winners include Viking Flagship (1994, 1996), Master Minded (2008, 2009), Sprinter Sacre (2012) and record three times winner Altior (2017, 2018, 2020).

The Game Spirit Chase is one of the main races of February 2024.

Find out more about the Game Spirit Chase:

Overview of the Game Spirit Chase Race

Horses must be five years old or older to compete in the Grade 2 National Hunt steeplechase, The Game Spirit Chase.

It is run at Newbury over a distance of around 2 miles and 92 yards (3,308 metres), and there are thirteen fences that must be jumped during the race.

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Famous Game Spirit Chase Winners

The race was first staged in 1953 and later adopted the name of Game Spirit, a popular chaser owned by The Queen Mother who was placed in the 1976 Champion Chase and the 1074 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Notable early winners include Dunkirk (1965), Pendil (1973) and Her Majesty’s Isle Of Man (1977).

The race was given Grade 2 status in 1992 with victory going to David Nicholson’s Waterloo Boy. He followed up in 1993 to become the first dual winner of the race.

Viking Flagship (1994, 1996), Azertyuiop (2004, 2005) and Master Minded (2008, 2009) would also claim two victories in the Game Spirit during their illustrious careers as leading two-mile chasers.

Other notable winners include Champion Chasers Pearlyman (1987) and Flagship Uberalles (2000).

Sprinter Sacre was having only his third run over fences when coasting to a six lengths win here in 2012. He would go on to win the Arkle (2012) and the Queen Mother Champion Chase (2013, 2016). His career was interrupted by a spell on the sidelines to recover from a heart condition. At his peak, Sprinter Sacre was rated behind only Arkle and Flyingbolt in the history of National Hunt racing.

Nicky Henderson trained Sprinter Sacre and he soon had another champion on his hands in Altior. He won this race three times between 2017 and 2020 with the 2019 renewal abandoned due to the equine flu outbreak. He won at four successive Cheltenham Festivals; Supreme Novices Hurdle (2016), Arkle Chase (2017) and Champion Chase (2018, 2019). His other notable successes include the Tingle Creek Chase (2018), Desert Orchid Chase (2018) and Clarence House Chase (2019).

Altior was such an impressive winner of the Game Spirit that most pundits felt he would have won the Champion Chase as a novice. In April 2019, Altior set a world record of 19 consecutive victories over fences when winning the Celebration Chase at Sandown Park.

Key Game Spirit Chase Trials

There are no obvious trials for the Game Spirit Chase, although runners from the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton can take this route to Cheltenham. The Game Spirit Chase can influence the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Arkle Chase betting.

Nine of the last eleven winners ran at the Cheltenham Festival next time, seven of them running in the Queen Mother and two in the Arkle Chase. race at the festival next time. Altior (2018) was the first horse since Master Minded (2008) to win the Game Spirit and the Champion Chase in the same season.

Nicky Henderson chose this race as the Cheltenham prep run for subsequent Arkle Chase winners Sprinter Sacre (2012) and Altior (2017).

2016 winner Top Gamble was sent to Ireland to contest the Normans Grove Chase at Fairyhouse and won for Kerry Lee and Richard Johnson.

Game Spirit Chase Betting Trends

Favourites have a good record in the Game Spirit Chase, winning seven times in the last eleven renewals.

Altior returned long odds-on favourite for all three of his victories; 30-100 in 2017 and 1-3 in 2018 and 2020.

Sprinter Sacre returned at 2-5 in 2012 while the other successful favourites were Module (2014), Top Gamble (2016) and Sceau Royal (2021).

The longest-priced winner during the same period was Wishful Thinking at 4-1 in 2013.

All but two of the last eleven winners had raced within the previous two months, five of them coming here after a victory.

Most recent winners had at least three previous chase wins to their credit, including one or more at Grade 1 or Grade 2 level.

An official rating of 154 or higher is usually required to win this race.

Master Minded was officially rated 178 when winning for Paul Nicholls in 2010. That is 2lbs higher than Altior’s third victory ten years’ later.

Horses have won this race from ages five to twelve, although the latter was achieved back in 1979 by Tim Forster’s Casbah. They accounted for seven of the nine winners between 2010 and 2018.

Don’t Be Shy (2006) and Master Minded (2008) both won as five-year-olds.

Game Spirit Chase – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Paul Nicholls has won the Game Spirit Chase a record seven times. His victories include Champion chasers Flagship Uberalles (2000), Azertyuiop (2004, 2005) and Master Minded (2008, 2010). His other winners were Kadarann (2003) and Mr Mole (2015).

Nicky Henderson has won it five times; French Opera (2011), Sprinter Sacre (2012) and Altior (2017, 2018 and 2020). He is now level with David Nicholson who won it five times between 1988 and 1996 including dual winners Waterloo Boy and Viking Flagship. His other victory was that of Very Promising in 1988.

Ruby Walsh partnered both Azertyuiop and Master Minded and is the leading rider in the history of the Game Spirit with four winners.

Nico de Boinville rode Altior to all three of his victories while Richard Dunwoody also won it three times.

Betting on the Game Spirit Chase

The roll of honour for the Game Spirit Chase reads like a who’s who of Champion Chasers. The race itself often goes the way of the favourite and it is a valuable stepping-stone to the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Game Spirit Chase Previous Result

Check out the latest result from this race:

Summary of the Game Spirit Chase

We hope our Game Spirit Chase guide was helpful, thank you for reading.

We have looked at the race history, betting odds, tips and more, this means you have all the information you need to place a bet or simply enjoy the race.

Check out our tips for races at Newbury if you enjoy watching races at this course.

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