The Arkle Challenge Trophy is a Grade 1 chase for novices aged five years and above. It is run on the old course at Cheltenham over a distance of two miles, during which there are twelve fences to be jumped.
It is the leading minimum-distance chase for novices in the National Hunt calendar, and currently follows the Supreme Novices Hurdle of being the second race on Day 1 of the Cheltenham Festival.
The formbook is usually a good guide when deciding how this race will pan out, with shocks very few and far between. The fields for this tend to be smaller than majority of races at the Cheltenham Festival, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in quality.
The race itself is a real test for novices who have to travel faster and jump quicker than they have ever jumped before in novice chase runs elsewhere in their debut season. After such a stern examination of their abilities, it is no surprise to see that winners of this race almost invariably go on to take top rank against amongst the countries’ leading two mile chasers.
Moscow Flyer, Azertyuiop, Flagship Uberalles and Voy Por Ustedes are horses who have gone on from winning this race in recent years to win a subsequent renewal of the Queen Mother Champion Chase; a more recent example of this is Sizing Europe who completed the feat last year and lines up once again to defend his crown.
The race also has proven to be a stepping stone to future success in the Gold Cup. Both Kicking King (2005) and War Of Attrition (2006) Gold Cup winners had run in this race the previous year, and Best Mate would have too had the meeting not been abandoned due to the foot and mouth outbreak.
History:
The Arkle Challenge Trophy was introduced as a replacement for the Cotswold Chase, a previous event at the Cheltenham Festival, in 1969. Its title pays tribute to Arkle, a three-time winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the mid 1960s. The race was formerly scheduled to be run on the second day of the Festival, but it was switched to its current slot on the opening day in 1980.
The first sponsor of the ‘Arkle’ was Waterford Castle, which began supporting the event in 1991. It was backed by Guinness from 1994 to 1999, and since then it has been sponsored by the Irish Independent newspaper.
Race Previews:
Captain Chris en-route to glory in 2011.Previous Winners:
| Year | Horse | Age | Trainer | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Captain Chris | 7 | P Hobbs | 6-1 |
| 2010 | Sizing Europe | 8 | H De Bromhead | 6-1 |
| 2009 | Forpadydeplasterer | 7 | T Cooper | 8-1 |
| 2008 | Tidal Bay | 7 | J Howard Johnson | 6-1 |
| 2007 | My Way de Solzen | 7 | A King | 7-2 |
| 2006 | Voy Por Ustedes | 5 | A King | 15-2 |
| 2005 | Contraband | 7 | M C Pipe | 7-1 |
| 2004 | Well Chief | 5 | M C Pipe | 9-1 |
| 2003 | Azertyuiop | 6 | P F Nicholls | 5-4F |
| 2002 | Moscow Flyer | 8 | Mrs J Harrington | 11-2 |
| 2000 | Tiutchev | 7 | N J Henderson | 8/1 |
Popularity: 9% [?]
