The Arkle Chase or the Arkle Challenge Trophy as its also known is a Grade 1 race for horses aged five or older. It is a two mile race that was first introduced in 1969. The race came in to replace the Cotswold Chase, a previous race that used to be run at the Cheltenham Festival.

The race, which has 13 fences in it, was run on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival up until 1980. After that, it was moved to the opening day where it has stayed since. It has always been run on the Old Course at Cheltenham.

The race has been run every year since 1946 except for 1947 and 2001. The first ever winner was Bright Penny for trainer Bobby Norris. Horses tend to use this race as a stepping stone for the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Plenty of winners from the Arkle Chase have gone on to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

As of 2021, Sporting Life has taken over sponsorship of the Arkle Chase.

The purse for the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the 2019 festival was £175,000 from which £103,134 went to the winner’s connections. The most recent winner was Due Des Genievres, trained by Willie Mullins. In fact, the Irish Champion trainer has won the race four out of the last five festivals, earning him a good return in prize money.

When the race became the Arkle in 1969 it was won by Chatham who went off at odds of 10/1. The prize for the winning horse back then was £1,365!

In 1991, when Nicky Henderson had his first winner in the then Waterford Castle Arkle Challenge, the prize money was £42,927. The horse was Remittance Man.

When the legendary horse Sprint Sacre won the Racing Post Arkle Challenge, the prize money won was £74,000, £29,000 less than it is now seven years later.

The Arkle Chase is a stepping stone for horses to go on to win bigger and better races. Many big named horses have featured in this race and won it.

Sprinter Sacre won the Racing Post Arkle Challenge in 2012. He won the race by seven lengths beating Cue Card comfortably. This came after he placed third in the Supreme Novices’ the year before, in 2011. He then went on to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase in both 2013 and 2016. Sprinter Sacre is the third-highest ever Timeform rated horse with a rating on 192.

Douvan was another famous horse that won the Arkle Chase. He had won the Supreme Novices in 2015 and then went on to win the Arkle in 2016. He also won it by seven lengths, beating Sizing John. The Arkle win was one of 13 races that Douvan won in a row. However, he couldn’t match the feat of Sprinter Sacre and was eventually beaten in the Queen Mother in 2017.

Altior is another big winner of the Arkle Chase. He won the race in 2017 and has since then gone on unbeaten at the Cheltenham Festival. Altior beat Cloudy Dream by six lengths in the Arkle. He then went on to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase twice, beating Min by seven lengths and then Politologue in 2019 by 1.75 lengths.

Altior’s unbeaten run, which saw him win 19 consecutive races between October 2015 and April 2019, finally came to an end on 23rd November 2019 when he was beaten into second place by Cyrname in the Christy 1965 Chase at Ascot. To date, he has amassed earnings in excess of £1.2 million.

Horses who win the Arkle Chase do not return to defend their title. Instead, they go on to other bigger races at the Cheltenham Festival. For that reason there hasn’t been any multiple winners of the race.

The leading jockeys in the Arkle Chase are Barry Geraghty and Ruby Walsh. Both jockeys have won the race four times in their careers. Geraghty won his first Arkle on Moscow Flyer in 2002 and his last was Simonsig in 2013. Walsh’s first win came on Azertyuiop in 2003. He also rode Un De Sceaux (2015), Douvan (2016), and his final win was on Footpad in 2018.

Nicky Henderson is the leading trainer in the Arkle. He has won the race seven times, over 27 years. The first win was in 1991 with Remittance Man. Since then his big winners have been Sprinter Sacre and Altior. Henderson is still one of the leading trainers at the Cheltenham Festivals, so he could easily add to his record in the coming years.

Willie Mullins is another leading trainer at Cheltenham. He has four wins in the Arkle, all of which have come in the last five years. He is going to need to do a lot though to beat the record of seven.

Six horses since the year 2000 have gone on to win the double. The double being winning the Arkle Chase and then the Queen Mother Champion Chase the year after. The horses were Moscow Flyer (2002/03), Azertyuiop (2003/04), Voy Por Ustedes (2006/07), Sizing Europe (2010/11), Sprinter Sacre (2012/13) and Altior (2017/18).

Jockey Jamie Osborne holds the record for the most consecutive wins. He won the Arkle for three consecutive years in 1992-1994. All three of his wins were for different trainers.