Cheltenham 2025: Champion Chase Trends You Should Not Ignore
The Champion Chase is the feature race on Day Two of Cheltenham and all eyes will be on Jonbon, the heavy favourite with betting sites, as he seeks to taste Festival glory for the first time in his career.
While analysing trends can provide valuable insights for punters, it's crucial to assess which are worth following and which might be misleading.
In this article, we take a look at the top-five trends you should consider for the 2025 Champion Chase.
Age of Winners
The majority of Champion Chase victors fall within the seven to nine-year-old bracket. This is not surprising as National Hunt horses are usually at their prime during this time period.
Ten of the last 12 winners were aged between seven to nine, which shows the strength of this statistic.
Dual Champion Chase winner Energumene will be aiming to become the first 11-year-old since Moscow Flyer in 2005 to win the race.
Masterminded was the only five-year-old to win the race in 2008, while only three six-year-olds have won the Champion Chase, so it’s worth keeping the seven to nine-year-olds on your side for this one.
A Graveyard For Favourites
The Champion Chase has been full of surprises and the market rarely gets it right.
Favourites do not have a good recent record, with only six of the last 19 being successful.
Un De Sceaux, Defi Du Seuil, Chacun Pour Soi and Shishkin have all been beaten at odds-on in this race, while both El Fabiolo (2024) and Douvan (2017) were beaten at 2/9 so it has been a race to let down an accumulator.
Jonbon is currently the 5/6 favourite, but he is yet to win at the Cheltenham Festival and many will be banking he will have his day in the sun in this year's Champion Chase.
Henderson No Stranger to Success At Cheltenham
Nicky Henderson has won the Champion Chase six times with some of the best two-milers we have ever seen such as Sprinter Sacre and Altior.
The Seven Barrows team know what it takes to win this race, but despite not winning it since 2019 they have every chance to clinch victory this year with Jonbon.
Although Willie Mullins has dominated the National Hunt game of late, he has won the race on just two occasions, but his rival Henry de Bromhead is more than capable of landing the honours as he has won the race four times.
Recent Form A Positive
A horse's form leading up to the Champion Chase is a huge sign of success in the Champion Chase.
Half of the last 12 winners triumphed in their Cheltenham Festival prep run, and nine winners had raced competitively within the preceding 53 days.
The Clarence House Chase at Ascot is a significant prep race for Champion Chase contenders.
Of the last 12 winners, seven had their previous outing in this race, with four securing victory.
Jonbon is a short-priced favourite with horse racing betting sites to complete the double this year.
Horses For Courses
Cheltenham is a unique course and horses that have run well at Prestbury Park throughout their career tend to return and do the same at the Festival.
Eleven of the past 12 winners had at least two previous runs at Cheltenham, and seven of those winners had already won at the venue.
The front-running pair of Il Est Francais and Solness will have to overcome this stat as they are sure to set a frantic pace in what looks to be an exciting Champion Chase.
