Queen Mother Champion Chase

The Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham is the ultimate prize for chasers over two miles. 

The Queen Mother Champion Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase held at the Cheltenham Festival and is open to horses aged five years or older. It is sometimes referred to as The Champion Chase.

It attracts the fastest steeplechasers from Britain and Ireland as the established stars clash with last year’s top novices. Badsworth Boy (1983-1985) is the only horse to have won the race three times, while dual winners include Moscow Flyer (2003, 2005), Master Minded (2008, 2009), Sprinter Sacre (2013, 2016), and Altior (2018, 2019), all of whom are high-profile winners.

Find out more about The Champion Chase:

The Champion Chase Race

The Queen Mother Champion Chase, which is run over two miles, is the highlight on day two of the Cheltenham Festival in March.

There are thirteen fences to be jumped on the Old Course at Cheltenham racecourse, and one mistake can prove costly at this level.

Although the emphasis is on fast and accurate jumping, the Cheltenham hill provides a testing finish, with the lead often changing hands on the run-in.

Queen Mother Champion Chase 2026 Tips

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Famous Queen Mother Champion Chase Winners & History

The Champion Chase was first run in 1959 as the National Hunt Two-Mile Chase, with victory going to Ireland’s Quita Que.

The race was renamed to mark The Queen Mother’s 80th birthday in 1980.

The closest Her Majesty came to victory was in 1976 when Game Spirit finished second to Skymas.

Many famous steeplechasers have won the Champion Chase, but few were more impressive than Flyingbolt in 1966. He won this so easily that he took his chance in the Champion Hurdle the following day, where he finished third.

Crisp will forever be remembered as the most gallant loser in Grand National history (second to Red Rum in 1973), but he won this race two years earlier. The Dickinson family trained Badsworth Boy to complete an unprecedented hat-trick of victories here from 1983 to 1985. He was a high-class hurdler, but nothing could live with him over fences. He was ridden by Robert Earnshaw on all three occasions, beating his rivals by a distance in 1983.

Popular dual winners of the Queen Mother Champion Chase include Viking Flagship (1994, 1995), Moscow Flyer (2003, 2005) and Master Minded (2008, 2009).

In recent years, Nicky Henderson’s two-star chasers have each recorded two victories in this race – Sprinter Sacre and Altior. Sprinter Sacre (1-4 favourite) started the shortest-priced winner in the history of the race in 2013. His career was interrupted by a heart condition the following season, but he made a triumphant return in 2016.

Henderson only had to wait two years before he had another champion chaser on his hands in Altior. He won in 2018 and 2019, but an injury prevented him from chasing a third successive victory in 2020.

One Man (1998) was another very popular winner, trained by Gordon Richards and ridden by Brian Harding. The grey was better known for his exploits over three miles, including back-to-back victories in the King George VI Chase in 1995 and 1996.

Key Queen Mother Champion Chase Trials

The Clarence House Chase at Ascot has been the key trial for the Champion Chase in recent seasons.

Five of the last twelve winners had won the Ascot race before coming here. Master Minded, Sprinter Sacre, Sire De Grugy, Dodging Bullets and Altior all won both races in the same season.

The Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton and the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury are other proper trials. Sprinter Sacre (2015) is among those to win the Desert Orchid Chase before winning the Champion Chase.

Altior won the Game Spirit Chase in 2017, 2018 and 2020, with the 2019 renewal lost to the weather.

Queen Mother Champion Chase Betting Trends

Favourites have a mixed record in this race in recent years, with five victories in the past twelve years.

All bar Big Zeb (2010), Sizing Europe (2011) and Special Tiara (2017) were in the top three in the Champion Chase betting.

The last major shock in this race was a 16-1 shot, Newmill, in 2006, who beat a field that included Kauto Star and Moscow Flyer.

Top Trainers and Jockeys of the Champion Chase

Three trainers share the record for most winners in this race: Tom Dreaper, Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls.

Henderson reached that landmark with Altior’s second victory in 2019, Nicholls joining him with Politologue’s 2020 success. Dreaper’s victories included Flyingbolt in 1966. Barry Geraghty and Pat Taaffe each rode the winner of this race on five occasions.

Geraghty’s last victory here came aboard Henderson’s Sprinter Sacre in 2013. The Lambourn trainers’ previous three winners were all ridden by stable jockey Nico de Boinville.

Queen Mother Champion Chase Previous Winners

Here are the previous winners of the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer
2013	Sprinter Sacre	7	Barry Geraghty	Nicky Henderson
2014	Sire De Grugy	8	Jamie Moore	Gary Moore
2015	Dodging Bullets	7	Sam Twiston-Davies	Paul Nicholls
2016	Sprinter Sacre	10	Nico de Boinville	Nicky Henderson
2017	Special Tiara	10	Noel Fehily	Henry de Bromhead
2018	Altior	8	Nico de Boinville	Nicky Henderson
2019	Altior	9	Nico de Boinville	Nicky Henderson
2020	Politologue	9	Harry Skelton	Paul Nicholls
2021	Put The Kettle On	7	Aidan Coleman	Henry de Bromhead
2022	Energumene	8	Paul Townend	Willie Mullins
2023	Energumene	9	Paul Townend	Willie Mullins
2024	Captain Guinness	9	Rachael Blackmore	Henry de Bromhead
2025	Marine Nationale	8	Sean Flanagan	B Connell
2026	II Etait Temps	8	Paul Townend	Willie Mullins

Best Cheltenham Queen Mother Champion Chase Betting Offers 2026

Ante-post betting on the Queen Mother Champion Chase is available throughout the year.

The early odds are based on the outcome of the previous season’s race. Altior (2018-2019) became the first horse to successfully defend his title since Master Minded (2008-2009).

This is also the obvious target for the winner of the Arkle Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival. However, it takes an exceptional horse to leap from top novice to Champion chaser.

Bookmakers update Queen Mother Champion Chase prices immediately after each of the main trials, and many of the biggest online bookies offer Cheltenham Queen Mother Champion Chase free bets for new punters and enhanced odds bonuses for existing customers.

Betting on the Champion Chase

The ante-post market for the Champion Chase runs throughout the year, and those who have taken early prices have been well rewarded.

Queen Mother Champion Chase Facts

• The Queen Mother Champion Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in the United Kingdom for horses aged five years and older.
• The race is run over a distance of 2 miles and is open to both male and female horses.
• It is named after Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, a keen racing enthusiast who attended the race every year until her death in 2002.
• The race was first run in 1959 and was won by the legendary Arkle.
• The feature race on Day 2 is for the quickest National Hunt horses over 2 miles.
• The record time for the race is 4 minutes and 6.8 seconds, set by Sprinter Sacre in 2013.
• All but two of the last twelve Queen Mother Champion Chase winners had raced within the previous two months.
• Eight of those had won on their most recent start.
• Previous experience over this course is a key factor, with all twelve having already raced here, seven of them having recorded Cheltenham victories.
• Experience counts for a lot here, with all recent winners having raced at least seven times over fences.
• Most had won at least five chases before the Champion Chase and had been successful in a Grade 1 race.
• Horses aged eight to ten have the best recent record in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
• Horses that run in the Shloer Chase often run well.
• The French-bred Master Minded won this race as a five-year-old in 2008.
• Moscow Flyer gained his second victory at the age of 11 in 2005.
• The Clarence House Chase is often a key trial.

Summary of the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase

The Queen Mother Champion Chase is one of the highlights of the Cheltenham festival and often features some of the most popular horses in training.

Sprinter Sacre and Altior both had huge followings coming to this meeting.

There are a few more exciting sights at Cheltenham than the best two-mile chasers coming down the hill. Speed, accurate jumping and a strong finish are all hallmarks of a Champion Chase champion. It is one of our favourite races year after year, The Festival.

Can Engueremene do it again? Time will tell!