The Ultima Handicap Chase is the first handicap of the week at the Festival and it always attracts a large, competitive field.
Grade 3 | 5yo+ | Tuesday 14.50
3 miles 1 furlong | 20 fences | Old Course
Weight: 10st - 11st 12lb (handicap)
Prize money (2022): £125,000 | 1st: £70,338
Originally the National Hunt Handicap Chase, it was known as the Ritz Club from 1981 to 1996 and has had various sponsors since, including Ultima Business Solutions from 2015.
It often ends up being a real test of stamina due to a strong end to end gallop and thus it is seen as a good Grand National trial.
Horses to have won both races include West Tip, Seagram and Rough Quest.
Noble Yeats finished 9th in the Ultima in 2022 before going on to win the National the following month.
ULTIMA HANDICAP CHASE TRENDS
9 of the last 11 winners wore headgear
10 of the last 13 winners ran at Cheltenham earlier that season
2 Irish trained winners since 1967 (the last in 2006)
15 of the last 22 winners were aged either 7 or 8
1 of the last 23 winners were the top weight
6 of the last 9 winners returned at between 8/1 & 11/1
3 of the last 43 favourites won
Updated to include 2022 renewal
As with many Festival races, previous course form is key: 3 of the last 4 winners (Corach Rambler, Beware The Bear & The Conditional) won at Cheltenham earlier that season.
Novices and second season chasers have tended to do well, not least because they may be less exposed from a handicapping perspective than more experienced rivals.
Un Temps Pour Tout in 2017 is the only horse to carry top weight to victory in this race since Unguided Missile in 1998.
He was also the first back-to-back winner since Scot Lane in 1983, with Sentina (1957/58) the only other dual winner.
Meanwhile, you have to go back to 2006 for the last Irish-trained winner, when Dun Doire won for Tony Martin.
Coo Star Sivola (2018) and Wichita Lineman (2009) are the only winning favourites this century, both at 5/1.
In fact, only three favourites have won this race since 1977 (also Antonin in 1994 at 4/1).
But 6 of the last 9 winners have returned at between 8/1 and 11/1.
In 2021 Vintage Clouds won in first-time cheekpieces, adding to the recent success of horses wearing either cheekpieces or blinkers.
Four times in the last 11 years this has included the 1-2, while in 2016 it was 1-2-3 (the Trifecta paid £2,025).
LAST 5 WINNERS’ DATA
RECENT WINNERS
Derek Fox / Lucinda Russell
Derek Fox / Lucinda Russell
Brendan Powell / David Bridgwater
Jeremiah McGrath / Nicky Henderson
Lizzie Kelly / Nick Williams
Tom Scudamore / David Pipe
Tom Scudamore / David Pipe
Barry Geraghty / Neil Mulholland
Richie McLernon / Jonjo O'Neill
Brendan Powell / Colin Tizzard
Richie McLernon / Jonjo O'Neill
Robert Thornton / Alan King
Paddy Aspell / James Moffatt
Tony McCoy / Jonjo O'Neill
Tom Scudamore / David Pipe
Davy Russell / Ferdy Murphy
Robert Thornton / François Doumen
Robert Thornton / Alan King
Barry Geraghty / Christy Roche
Paul Carberry / Hughie Morrison
Mick Fitzgerald / Nicky Henderson
Slowly away and still well adrift three out, Corach Rambler came with a late surge to win the Ultima Handicap Chase in 2022.
It was a first Cheltenham Festival winner for jockey Derek Fox and a second for trainer Lucinda Russell:
‘WHEN HE MISSED THE START I TURNED TO ONE OF THE OWNERS AND SAID WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE A VINTAGE DEREK FOX HOLD-UP RIDE - AND WE DID. IT WAS PERFECT’
Vintage Clouds won the Ultima Chase on his fifth attempt at the race in 2021.
The eleven-year-old, who finshed second in 2019, sealed the deal with a fantastic leap at the last for jockey Ryan Mania:
‘WE WERE CONFIDENT HE WOULD RUN HIS RACE AS HE ALWAYS DOES - HE’S A REAL DETERMINED WARRIOR’
The Conditional gave David Bridgwater his first Festival winner as a trainer in 2020, despite a dreadful blunder two out.
As a jockey he rode five Festival winners, the last of which was in this race in 1997.
It was a third Festival winner and a second win of this race for jockey Brendan Powell, who was on the comeback trail after a few years in the doldrums:
‘THIS ONE MEANS A LOT MORE TO ME THAN MY FIRST TWO’
Beware The Bear produced a big leap at the last and then held off a late challenge from Vintage Clouds in the 2019 Ultima Chase.
It was Jeremiah McGrath's first victory at the Festival since 2012 (aboard Une Artiste in the Fred Winter Hurdle):
‘IT’S BEEN SEVEN YEARS SINCE I LAST WON HERE, AND I DIDN’T REALLY APPRECIATE IT AT THE TIME’
Coo Star Sivola landed a big gamble in 2018, with conditional jockey Lizzie Kelly riding for her stepfather Nick Williams.
She was thus the first female professional jockey to win a race at the Festival:
‘THAT WAS LIKE THE LONGEST HILL IN THE WORLD - I WAS HALF-WATCHING THE CAMERA SO I COULD SEE WHAT WAS COMING’
Un Temps Pour Tout 2017
Un Temps Pour Tout 2016
The Druids Nephew 2015
In 2014 the Jonjo O'Neill trained Holywell secured back-to-back Festival wins, having won the Pertemps Final 12 months earlier.
The small but brave gelding went on to finish fourth in the 2015 Gold Cup and then runner-up back in this race in 2016.
‘I ACTUALLY FELL OUT WITH THE HANDICAPPER AFTER HE GAVE HIM A MARK OF 145 RECENTLY, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE HE WAS PROBABLY RIGHT’
Golden Chieftain 2013
Looking further back, there was a classic finish in 2009 when the great AP McCoy refused to accept defeat.
He coaxed Wichita Lineman to victory with a late surge past Maljimar - still considered by many to be the best ride in the history of the Cheltenham Festival:
‘I KNEW HE’D COME HOME WELL IF I COULD JUST GIVE HIM A CHANCE BY KEEPING CLOSE ENOUGH...YOU HAVE TO KEEP THEM RUNNING AND FINISHING RATHER THAN FORCING THEM AND THEN FALLING IN A HOLE’
An Accordion 2008
Joes Edge 2007
While in 2002, Paul Carberry memorably gave Frenchman's Creek a superb ride, timing his charge to perfection to overhaul long-time leader Carbury Cross on the run-in:
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Norman Williamson / Kim Bailey
Paul Carberry / Gordon Richards
David Bridgwater / Robert Alner
Andrew Thornton / Tim Forster
Mick Fitzgerald / Terry Casey
Paul Holley / David Elsworth
Carl Llewellyn / Nigel Twiston-Davies
Nigel Hawke / David Barons
Richard Dunwoody / David Nicholson
Tom Morgan / John Edwards
Paul Croucher / David Murray Smith
Ben de Haan / Jenny Pitman
Peter Scudamore / David Nicholson
Richard Dunwoody / Michael Oliver
Steve Knight / Andrew Turnell
Craig Smith / Martin Tate
Craig Smith / Martin Tate
Neale Doughty / Gordon Richards
Jim Wilson / John Edwards
Ridley Lamb / George Fairbairn
Bill Smith / Fulke Walwyn
Jimmy McNaught / Robin Blakeney
John Francome / Richard Head
Andrew Turnell / Bob Turnell
Michael Dickinson / Tony Dickinson
David Mould / Harry Thomson Jones
Johnny Haine / Fulke Walwyn
Andrew Turnell / Bob Turnell
Pat McCarron / Charlie Hall
Kit Stobbs / Arthur Stephenson
David Mould / Peter Cazalet
Johnny Haine / Bob Turnell
Terry Biddlecombe / Bobby Renton
Willie Robinson / Fulke Walwyn
Stan Mellor / Dick Curran
Fred Winter / Fulke Walwyn
Tony Keen / Alec Kilpatrick
George Milburn / Verly Bewicke
Peter Brookshaw / Fred Rimell
Tommy Cusack / John Roberts
Phonsie O'Brien / Vincent O'Brien
Johnny Bullock / Fred Rimell
Martin Molony / George Beeby
Bobby O'Ryan / Charles Rogers
Herbert Applin / Sonny Hall
George Archibald / Owen Anthony
Jack Moloney / Jack Anthony
Fred Gurney / Francis Hurt
Patrick Fitzgerald / John Cockton
G.P Shakerley / Frank Brown
Fred Gurney / Ben Roberts
Jack Moloney / Fred Withington
G. Turner / Gerald Foljambe
Fred Gurney / Percy Woodland
Jack Anthony / Aubrey Hastings
Dick Rees / Charlie Piggott
Dick Rees / Charlie Piggott
Ivor Anthony / Aubrey Hastings
Isaac Morgan / Robert Collis
Robert Chadwick / Tom Coulthwaite
William Payne / T. Costello
All winners prior to 2000
* Run at April meeting
The race was originally called the National Hunt Handicap Chase (not to be confused with the National Hunt Chase).
In 2005 it became known as the Festival Trophy Handicap Chase.
ULTIMA HANDICAP CHASE FAQ’s