Mildmay Novices Chase

The Mildmay Novices’ Chase is a Grade 1 race over an extended three miles on day 2 of the Aintree Grand National Festival in April.

The Mildmay Novices Chase takes place on the 12th of April 2024 at 1:45 pm.

The race is often the target for horses that ran in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival 2024.

Famous winners of this race include Burrough Hill Lad (1982), Rhyme ‘n’ Reason (1985), Big Buck’s (2008) and Native River (2016).

Find out more about the Mildmay Novices Chase:

Race Overview – Mildmay Novices Chase

The Mildmay Novices’ Chase is a Grade One National Hunt chase held for horses aged five and up.

It is run over a distance of around 3 miles and 1 furlong on the Mildmay course at Aintree, and there are nineteen fences to jump during the race.

The race is for novice chasers and takes place every year in early April during the Grand National meeting.

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Famous Mildmay Novices’ Chase Winners

The Mildmay Novices’ Chase was first run in 1981 with victory going to Michael Dickinson’s Bregawn. He would go on to win the 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup in which his trainer saddled the first five horses to finish. Bregawn was followed home by Captain John, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck and Ashley House.

The standard was maintained the following year when it was won by Burrough Hill Lad. He would also claim chasing’s blue riband event when landing the Gold Cup for Jenny Pitman in 1984.

It was not until 2017 when Native River obliged that the Mildmay would produce another Gold Cup winner. He won this race as a six-year-old for Colin Tizzard and Richard Johnson and won the Cheltenham showpiece in 2018.

The Mildmay has also produced two subsequent Aintree Grand National winners in Rhyme ‘n’ Reason (1985) and Royal Athlete (1990).

Rhyme ‘n’ Reason was trained to win the 1988 Grand National by David Elsworth with Jenny Pitman’s Royal Athlete winning the Aintree marathon in 1995.

The impressive roll of honour for this race also includes Cheltenham Stayers’ Hurdle winners Cyborgo (1997) and Big Buck’s (2008).

Paul Nicholls abandoned plans to send Big Buck’s chasing after he unseated his rider in the Coral Gold Cup. The decision to revert to hurdles paid off handsomely with four consecutive Stayers’ Hurdles, establishing the horse as the greatest staying hurdler in history. He also won the valuable Liverpool Hurdle every year from 2009 to 2012.

2017 Mildmay Novices’ Chase winner Might Bite won the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park later that year for Nicky Henderson. He then finished second to Native River in the 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Key Mildmay Novices’ Chase Trials

The best form guide for the Mildmay Novices’ Chase over time has been the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (formerly RSA Chase) at Cheltenham. However, that race has produced two of the last eleven winners while the Turners Novices’ Chase (formerly Marsh Novices Chase) has been responsible for four.

This recent trend is interesting and supports the theory that trainers are shying away from the more testing three-miler at Cheltenham in favour of the shorter event.

Horses are more likely to run here after the less gruelling two and a half mile Turners.

Another race worth noting is the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton Park.

Only one of the last eleven Mildmay winners has raced again the same season. That was Quita De La Roque (2011) who won the Champion Novice Chase at Punchestown in May but most recent winners were not seen again until November.

Five recent Mildmay Novices’ Chase winners returned to Aintree the following season to run in the Betway Bowl but only Might Bite (2018) was successful.

Mildmay Novices’ Chase Previous Winners

Check out the previous winners for this race:

Mildmay Novices’ Chase Previous Result

Check out the latest result from this race:

Mildmay Novices’ Chase Betting Trends

The last three winners of the Mildmay Novices’ Chase have all featured in the first three in the betting.

Silviniaco Conti (2012), Saphir Du Rheu (2015), Might Bite (2017), Terrefort (2018) and Chantry House (2021) all started favourite.

Might Bite (2017) was the shorted-priced winner at 8-13.

The last horse to win from outside the front three in the betting was Killyglen in 2009, trained by Howard Johnson and ridden by Dennis O’Regan.

Horses aged six and seven won every renewal between 2009 and 2016.

Might Bite (2017) broke the sequence when successful as an eight-year-old with five-year-old Terrefort winning the following year.

The oldest winner in the history of this race was eleven-year-old Like-A-Butterfly in 2005, trained by Christy Roche and ridden by Tony McCoy.

Most recent winners came here after running at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Horses with three or more previous races over fences fare better than less experienced rivals.

Most winners had won at least once in a Grade 1 or Grade 2 race and had an official rating of 152 or higher.

Native River (2016) was the lowest-rated winner in recent years on 149 while the highest-rated was Saphir Du Rheu (2015) on 163.

Mildmay Novices’ Chase – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Nicky Henderson is the trainer to note in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase. Chantry House provided Henderson with a record sixth winner in the race in 2021. His previous winners were Sparkling Flame (1991), Irish Hussar (2003), Burton Port (2010), Might Bite (2017) and Terrefort (2018).

Paul Nicholls has won this race four times; Star de Mohaison (2006), Big Buck’s (2008), Silviniaco Conti (2012) and Saphir Du Rheu (2015).

The last Irish-trained winner was Quito De La Roque in 2011, one of only three in the history of the event.

Richard Dunwoody won this race four times, his last victory coming aboard Cyborgo for Martin Pipe in 1997.

Summary of the Mildmay Novices’ Chase

Thank you for reading our Mildmay Novices’ Chase guide.

We have looked at past winners and the race history, the current betting, trends, tips and more. We hope you have found all the information you need whether placing a bet or simply enjoying the race.

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