The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase can be traced back to 1834, making it the oldest contest in the jumps calendar.
Grade 3 | 5yo+ | Wednesday 16.50
2 miles ½ furlong | 14 fences | Old Course
Weight: 10st - 11st 12lb (handicap)
Prize money (2022): £125,000 | 1st: £70,338
In recent years it was the final race of the Cheltenham Festival but was moved to Day 2 in 2021.
It is now even more of a speed test as the Old Course track is slightly shorter/sharper.
The maximum field was reduced rom 24 to 20 in 2019 for safety reasons.
GRAND ANNUAL CHASE TRENDS
4 of the last 6 winners were rated 147+
7 of the last 9 winners carried 11 stone+
0 of the last 29 winners were top weight
8 of the last 17 winners had run in the race previously
2 of the last 18 favourites won
Updated to include 2022 renewal
Always a fiercely competitive heat, the Grand Annual Chase can throw up some big-priced winners and did so again in 2022 with 28/1 shot Global Citizen.
Plenty of winners had run in the race before - Croco Bay won at 66/1 in 2019 having previously been 3rd, 5th and fallen.
9/2 favourite Rock The World was third in 2016, but returned to win in 2017 at 10/1.
While the 7/2 favourite Le Prezien was 8th in 2017, yet won the following year at 15/2.
Also, Oiseau de Nuit was 8/1 third favourite in 2010 (pulled up) but won in 2011 at 40/1.
No top weight has won the Grand Annual since 1992 (My Young Man 11st 10lb), but Sky Pirate (152) became the highest rated winner since then in 2021, carrying 11st 6lb.
While in 2018 Le Prezien (rated 150) carried 11st 8lb to victory - the best weight-carrying performance since Stopped (11st 12lb) in 1980.
LAST 5 WINNERS’ DATA
RECENT WINNERS
Darragh O'Keeffe / Henry De Bromhead
Kielan Woods / Ben Pauling
Nick Scholfield / Jonjo O'Neil
Davy Russell / Gordon Elliott
Barry Geraghty / Paul Nicholls
Robbie Power / Jessica Harrington
Sam Twiston-Davies / Paul Nicholls
Tom Scudamore / Michael Scudamore
Davy Russell / Tony Martin
Tony McCoy / Thomas Mullins
Paul Carberry / Nicky Henderson
Steven Clements / Colin Tizzard
Paddy Brennan / Nigel Twiston-Davies
Wayne Hutchinson / Alan King
Davy Russell / Arthur Moore
Robert Thornton / Paul Nicholls
Andrew Tinkler / Nicky Henderson
Paul Carberry / Mouse Morris
Ruby Walsh / Paul Nicholls
Mark Bradburne / Henry Daly
David Casey / Arthur Moore
Norman Williamson / Venetia Williams
Scoll to bottom of page for previous winners
Maskada 2023
Global Citizen gave jockey Kielan Woods his second Grand Annual Chase win in 2022, having guided the even lesser-fancied Croco Bay to victory in 2019.
Seventh in the 2019 Champion Hurdle and fourth in the 2020 Arkle Chase, the ten-year-old was tackling fences for the first time in over a year for trainer Ben Pauling:
‘IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE HE’S HAD HIS HEAD IN FRONT BUT F***ING HELL, EXCUSE MY LANGUAGE, HE GOT IT RIGHT TODAY’
The 2021 Grand Annual Chase winner was Sky Pirate, ridden by Nick Scholfield:
The well-backed Chosen Mate obliged in 2020, despite hesitating at the final fence:
Croco Bay caused an upset at 66/1 in 2019, on his fourth attempt at the Grand Annual.
The 12-year-old veteran was making only his second start since finishing fifth in the race two years prior:
Le Prezien stormed up the hill in 2018, to give Paul Nicholls a fourth win in the race:
Rock The World 2017
Solar Impulse 2016
Next Sensation 2015
Savello 2014
Alderwood 2013
Looking back further, Paul Carberry delivered Bellvano (in the red cap) perfectly in 2012:
Two years earlier, the grey Pigeon Island came with a great run from off the pace to win the Grand Annual, ridden by Paddy Brennan.
Back then the final race of the Festival, it completed a remarkable 747/1 treble for the Nigel Twiston-Davies stable, who had earlier won the Gold Cup and Foxhunter Chase:
‘TODAY HAS BEEN A VERY, VERY SPECIAL DAY...I’VE HAD A DOUBLE AT THE FESTIVAL BEFORE, BUT NEVER A TREBLE AND WE WILL BE CELEBRATING TONIGHT’
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Shay Barry / Jessica Harrington
Tony McCoy / Henrietta Knight
Graham Bradley / Jimmy FitzGerald
Tony McCoy / Philip Hobbs
Graham Bradley / Charlie Brooks
David Bridgwater / William Clay
Adrian Maguire / Richard Lee
Graham Bradley / Charlie Brooks
Jamie Osborne / Oliver Sherwood
Hywel Davies / Andrew Turnell
Peter Scudamore / Tim Thomson Jones
Richard Rowe / Josh Gifford
Richard Dunwoody / David Nicholson
Graham Bradley / John Edwards
Steve Smith Eccles / Alan Jarvis
Jonjo O'Neill / Brian Chinn
Joe Byrne / Michael Cunningham
Paul Barton / David Gandolfo
John Francome / Fred Winter
Ben de Haan / Fred Winter
Graham Thorner / Tim Forster
Bob Davies / Colin Davies
Taffy Salaman / Colin Davies
Nigel Wakley / Tim Handel
Frankie Carroll / Mick Burke
Peter Jones / Michael Scudamore
Anthony Robinson / John Edwards
John Buckingham / Edward Courage
Tommy Stack / Bobby Renton
George Milburn / Ken Oliver
Willie Robinson / Fulke Walwyn
David Nicholson / John Hicks
Bill Rees / Peter Cazalet
Michael Scudamore / Willie Stephenson
Frankie Carroll / Jimmy Brogan
Fred Winter / Clem Magnier
Francis Shortt / Clem Magnier
Bert Morrow / Alec Kilpatrick
Harry Sprague / Bob Turnell
Jack Dowdeswell / Peter Rice-Stringer
Johnny Bullock / Fulke Walwyn
Tim Molony / George Beeby
Eddie Reavey / Geoffrey Champneys
Charlie Hook / Walter Nightingall
Tony Doyle / Verly Bewicke
Danny Morgan / Ivor Anthony
Frenchie Nicholson / Reg Hobbs
Jack Bissill / Jack Bissill
Tommy McNeill / Charles Tabor
Evan Williams / Ivor Anthony
Billy Speck / William Payne
Jack Moloney / George Beeby
Gerald Hardy / William Payne
J. Lenehan / Teddy Martin
Monty Rayson / Harold Bazley
Billy Stott / B.M Bullock
Jack Moloney / Stanley Harrison
Harry Brown / Harry Brown
Harry Brown / Harry Brown
Ivor Anthony / Owen Anthony
Willie Smith / G.P Sanday
Herbert Smyth / Bill Hatt
Ivor Anthony / Aubrey Hastings
Michael Tighe / Edward Craven
All Grand Annual Chase winners at Cheltenham prior to 2000
* Run at April meeting
† Run at May meeting
First run in April 1834 as the Grand Steeple Chase over four miles of open country around Andoversford near Cheltenham, it has been run permanently at the Festival from 1913.
