Arkle Chase Betting & Odds 2023
The Arkle Trophy Chase is a Grade 1 race exclusively for novice horses, run over two miles and held on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. It is named after the famous Irish steeplechaser who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three years in a row between 1964 and 1966. The winner of this race often returns to Cheltenham in subsequent years to participate in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, with Flagship Uberalles, Moscow Flyer, Sprinter Sacre and Altior being notable examples of horses to have won both races.
Nicky Henderson is the most successful trainer in the history of the race, having trained the winner seven times, the most recent being Shishkin in 2021. And Henderson has an excellent chance to make it eight victories in 2023 with the JP McManus-owned Jonbon, who arrives here as one of the favourites.
Vying for favouritism with Jonbon is the Willie Mullins-trained El Fabiolo, who was most recently seen winning the Irish Arkle at the Dublin Racing Festival. And Mullins also trains Dysart Dynamo, who was sent off joint-favourite in the Supreme Novices’ at least year’s Festival before falling three from home.
Latest Arkle Chase Betting Odds *
*Best prices correct at time of writing
Jonbon 6/4
El Fabiolo 13/8
Dysart Dynamo 9/2
Saint Roi 15/2
Hollow Game 33/1
Ha D’Or 40/1
Straw Fan Jack 80/1
Effernock Fizz 100/1
Ballybreeze 150/1
Arkle Chase Odds and Entries 2023
The betting has this year’s Arkle Chase as a two-horse race with Jonbon and El Fabiolo, with the bookmakers struggling to split the pair.
Both are unbeaten over fences this season, with Jonbon winning all three of his races, including Grade 1 and Grade 2 contests, while El Fabiolo was impressive when landing the Irish Arkle last time out. The duo have clashed before, the last time at Aintree over hurdles where Jonbon landed the win by a narrow margin.
It would be a shock to see any other horse get involved in this contest, but Dysart Dynamo will likely try to see them all off from the front but was over 10 lengths behind El Fabiolo in the Irish Arkle. The remaining runners seem set to struggle against the two best novice chasers in the UK and Ireland – this looks like a battle between Jonbon and El Fabiolo.
Betting on the Arkle Chase
The Arkle Chase is the most prestigious two-mile novices chase of the season. The race often features a clash between the best novice chasers from Great Britain and Ireland with some big reputations on the line. This year the race is shaping up for a clash between Britain’s Jonbon and Ireland’s El Fabiolo, both unbeaten over fences.
They invariably go at a fast pace here so there is no margin for error when it comes to the jumping. It is almost impossible to recover from a serious mistake over two miles at this level. Horses aged six and seven dominated this race, although Edwardstone won as an eight-year-old in 2022.
Ante-post betting on the Cheltenham Arkle Chase runs throughout the year and those who have taken early prices have often been rewarded. The Arkle is one of the best races for favourites at the Cheltenham Festival. They account for eight of the last eleven races and seven of those started at odds-on. The shortest priced winners were Douvan (2016) and Altior (2017) who both started at the prohibitive odds of 1-4 favourite. The biggest shock result in recent times was the 33-1 victory of Western Warhorse in 2014 while Put The Kettle On won at 16-1 in 2020.
Arkle Chase News
This year’s Arkle sees a highly-anticipated clash between the best novice chaser in Ireland – El Fabiolo, taking on the best novice chaser in the UK – Jonbon. The Arkle is run at a frenetic pace, and a clean round of jumping is a must if you stand a chance of winning, as it’s challenging to recover from an error and win over the two-mile trip at this level.
Favourites have a strong record in the race, with nine of the last 12 renewals being won by the favourites, including Douvan (Jonbon’s full brother) and Altior, who both won at odds of 1/4. However, big-priced runners occasionally cause a shock, with Put The Kettle On winning at 16/1 in 2020.
The stats and form point to this being a head-to-head between El Fabiolo and Jonbon, and this year’s Arkle could be one of the best races of the entire Cheltenham Festival.