Last year’s race
- Winner: Warne
- Jockey: Mr S Waley-Cohen
- Trainer: B R Hamilton
- Owner: R Waley-Cohen C Fenwick M Hankin C Noe
- Age: 10 Weight: 12st 0lb
- Starting Price: 7/2
- Season Form Figures: 5212
- Previous Best: 4th - John Smith's Fox Hunters' Chase, Aintree (April 2013)
First staged in 1923, only the Grand National has a longer history at this meeting and until the end of the Second World War, it was also run over 4½ miles. The Foxhunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival is the most important race of the season for hunter chasers closely followed by this Crabbie’s-sponsored event but there is a marked difference in the type of horse required for each race so it is not altogether unsurprising that few winners at Cheltenham have attempted to double up in this prestigious race but this is reportedly the plan for the runaway winner at the Festival last month, On The Fringe trained by Enda Bolger. Only the same trainer’s Elegant Lord in 1999 and last year’s winner, Warne, have inscribed their names on the Roll of Honour in the last 31 years for the Irish which is a very poor return for a nation steeped in history in the point-to-point and hunter chase field.
Four of the last 13 winners ran in the Foxhunter at Cheltenham including two of the last four, Baby Run and Cloudy Lane, both of which had previous experience of the Grand National fences. On The Fringe will be attempting to emulate Double Silk, who in 1993 became the last horse to complete the double. Only three winners at Cheltenham have attempted to double up in the subsequent 21 years with two unseating their riders and the other finishing sixth. The previous horse to complete the Cheltenham-Aintree double was Grittar in 1981 who went on to win the Grand National the following season. Prior to him it was Spartan Missile in 1979 who went on to finish second to Aldaniti in the Grand National two years later. Since those days, Eliogarty, Cavalero, Elegant Lord and Baby Run have won both races but not in the same season.
All but two of the last 31 winners have been aged at least nine and the 1-2-3-4-5 last year were aged 11+.
The other race to take an extra look at is the Walrus Hunters’ Chase at Haydock which is often the strongest hunter chase run in Britain before the Cheltenham Festival and won this season by Pearlysteps who beat Temple Grandin and Cottage Oak. Christy Beamish and Baby Run both won that prize before failing to complete in the Foxhunter at Cheltenham and then bounced back to win here.
As many as 22 of the last 24 winners of the Cheltenham Foxhunter have been aged ten or younger. However, what age we should be looking to for this hunter chase could not contrast any more differently as all but two of the last 31 winners have been aged at least nine so a very different type of horse is required. In fact, the 1-2-3-4-5 were aged 11+ last year. It could be argued that it should be the other way round as the Crabbie’s Fox Hunters’ is more of a test of speed over an extended 2m5f whereas the Cheltenham Foxhunter is run over an extended 3m2f. However, as we have seen with the Topham Trophy and Grand National, experience counts for an awful lot over these big fences so older and therefore more-experienced horses are just better equipped to deal with it hence their very strong record. General experience counts for sure over these fences and only three horses younger than eight have finished in the first three in the last 15 renewals.
Also in total contrast to the Cheltenham Festival equivalent is the early origins of most recent winners as ten of the last 13 winners were former handicappers under Rules rather than being brought up through the point-to-point ranks unlike the Cheltenham Foxhunter Chase where 23 of the last 26 winners started their career down the traditional point-to-point/hunter chase route. They certainly don’t hang about in this big-field amateur riders’ contest and, time and again, it pays to be in the front rank from early on as it does with the Topham and Grand Sefton over this trip on this course. Warne never saw another horse making all last year. Therefore also in his favour is that seven of the last ten winners had experienced the Grand National fences before.
Over the last 22 years only Forest Gunner and Silver Adonishad failed to win earlier in the season and all but four winners won or placed on their previous start. The last three of those were unplaced in the Foxhunter at Cheltenham so I wouldn’t be too quick to overlook horses that finished out of the frame in that contest but I certainly couldn’t entertain a hunter chaser that had failed to run up to expectations on its previous start outside of that Festival race.
Mossey Joe started the shortest price favourite since Spartan Missile won in 1979 last season when he finished third. Prior to Tartan Snow’s 100/1 victory two years ago, this had been an excellent race for punters with 18 of the previous 20 winners sent off in the first four in the betting.
At a glance summary
- Positives
- The first four in the betting
- Had experienced the Grand National fences before
- Ex-handicappers
- Prominently-ridden horses
- Contested the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham
- The Walrus Hunter Chase winner
- Negatives
- Aged under nine
- Failed to win earlier in the season
- Irish-trained
