Champion Chase Tips
- 13/03/2024
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This racing preview focuses on Queen Mother Champion Chase betting tips, coming up on Ladies’ Day at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.
Our racing experts look over the big players who could be competing for one of the Festival’s top prizes.
Queen Mother Champion Chase tips include both the frontrunners and those with some each-way dark horse potential in this significant Grade 1 feature race.
We have not reached the stage of the complete list of runners being released for the Queen Mother Champion Chase 2024, but a look at the ante-post is still on the table.
With last year’s winner Energumene out for the season, there will be a new name added to the illustrious list of winners this year.
Queen Mother Champion Chase Betting Tips – Overlooked Outsiders
There is always a cracking field to look through for the Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase odds.
It is such a great race, but our Cheltenham tipsters are not just going to solely focus on the contenders at the head of the market.
We will also browse through some overlooked outsiders because, occasionally, a longer-priced winner comes through.
The most recent of those was Special Tiara in 2017 when the 10-year-old came through for trainer Henry de Bromhead from an 11/1 SP.
Considering that just three of the last ten winners have won at odds of 6/1+, that was a notable underdog success.
Closer to the time of the Cheltenham Festival 2024, our complete Queen Mother racing tips will be released.
A look at this year’s underdogs will be available closer to the race.
Queen Mother Champion Chase Runners – Wednesday 13th March 3:30
| Horse/Form | Silks | Jockey/Trainer | Odds |
| Edwardstone
12-1U2 |
 |
J: Tom Cannon T: Alan King |
6/4 |
| Energumene
21-113 |
 |
J: Paul Townend T: Willie Mullins |
13/8 |
| Editeur Du Gite
4P-3111 |
 |
J: Niall Houlihan T: Gary Moore |
9/2 |
| Nube Negra
143-12 |
 |
J: Harry Skelton T: Dan Skelton |
20/1 |
| Greaneteen
51-123 |
 |
J: Harry Cobden T: Paul Nicholls |
20/1 |
| Funambule Sivola
P-6451 |
 |
J: Charlie Deutsch T: Venetia Williams |
33/1 |
| Captain Guinness
16-412 |
 |
J: Rachael Blackmore T: Henry De Bromhead |
40/1 |
The Queen Mother Champion Chase betting market for ante-post odds can be studied right now. It gives some indicators of how the final line-up could look once the declarations are in.
Early entries help, and the current frontrunner in Queen Mother Champion Chase betting is Willie Mullins’ El Fabiolo.
The impressive gelding had a perfect 4/4 debut season over fences, including a dominant victory in the Arkle Chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival. He should take some stopping if he runs in here.
His biggest danger could come from Jonbon, who finished runner-up behind El Fabiolo in the Arkle and has already won a Grade 2 this season on his reappearance at Cheltenham’s November meeting.
Among other potential entries for the Champion Chase, Captain Guinness, Edwardstone and Ferny Hollow have all seen plenty of early ante-post market interest.
Closer to the Festival, we will know the complete line-up for the Queen Mother Champion Chase betting.
How to pick a Queen Mother Champion Chase winner
Looking at the Queen Mother Champion Chase tips that our experts have recommended will be a good start for racing betting.
Our tipsters will be scouring all the top stats, trends and forms as some key ones to bear in mind.
There have been four favourites winning in the last ten editions and two in the previous five. Granted, they were both delivered by horses who had won the previous years renewal – Altior in 2019 and Energumene last year.
Last 10 Queen mother Champion Chase Winner Odds
- 2023 Energumene 6/5F
- 2022 Energumene 5/2
- 2021 Put The Kettle On 17/2
- 2020 Politologue 6/1
- 2019 Altior 4/11F
- 2018 Altior Even Money Fav
- 2017 Special Tiara 11/1
- 2016 Sprinter Sacre 5/1
- 2015 Dodging Bullets
- 2014 Sire De Grugy 11/4F
Interestingly, this is a race in which the last ten editions haven’t seen an age group dominate. Both 8YO’s and 9YO’s have won three of the last ten renewals apiece, with 2 x 7YO winners and 2 x 10YO winners in that timeframe.
There hasn’t been a Queen Mother Champion Chase winner at more than 16/1 in the last 20 editions, and each of the previous 20 winners have been in the top six in the betting market at the off.
The last win that each of those winners had was in a Graded race. There have only been two female entrants in the previous 20 Queen Mother renewals, but one of those did win. That was 2021’s history-making, Put The Kettle On.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg for Queen Mother Championship Chase tip indicators. Our betting experts will have plenty more to study.
All About The Queen Mother Champion Chase: Past and Present
The Queen Mother Champion Chase is one of the biggest races in Great Britain, and it’s a Grade 1 chase open to horses 5-years-old and up.
Bookmaker Betway currently sponsors the race, and it is held on the turf of Cheltenham’s Old Course at the minimum-chase distance of 2 miles with 13 fences to be faced.
The inaugural edition of this special National Hunt race was in 1969, and it was in 1980 that it was given the title of the Queen Mother to celebrate the Royal’s 80th birthday.
The only horse to have won the Queen Mother Champion Chase on three occasions is Badsworth Boy, who won it for three consecutive years in the mid-80’s. Joint most-successful jockeys are Pat Taaffe and Barry Geraghty, with five each. But Nico de Boinville is the current hot ticket, with three wins in the last eight renewals.
Tom Dreaper, Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson are the joint all-time leading trainers in the Queen Mother with five winners each. Although it’s also worth noting that Willie Mullins has won the most recent two renewals, both won by Energumene.
How Do Horses Qualify For The Queen Mother Champion Chase?
This Grade 1 contest is open to five-year-olds and up, and both males and female horses can participate. There is a 7lb allowance for mares, while the males get 11st 10lb weight.
What is the Queen Mother Champion Chase Prize Money in 2024?
Given the status of this race, there is always a vast prize purse attached to it. We await details of what 2024’s will be. Last year’s winner Energumene took £226,672 with the other payouts being 2nd £86,392, 3rd £44,032, 4th £22,792 and 5th £12,232.
Queen Mother Champion Chase Past Winners
We are talking about some elite Cheltenham Festival winners, including the phenomenal hattrick-scoring Badsworth Boy back in the 1980s. The outstanding Moscow Flyer won this twice in 2003 and 2005.
Masterminded became the first 5-year-old to land the Queen Mother Champion Chase with a win in 2008, and he went back the following year to successfully defend.
Sizing Europe, Dodging Bullet and Sprinter Sacre are among other famous winners. But one of the greats will always be Nicky Henderson’s Altior, who thrilled the Festival with wins in 2018 and 2019.
| Year | Horse | Odds | Jockey | Trainer |
| 2023 | Energumene | 6/5F | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
| 2022 | Energumene | 5/2 | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
| 2021 | Put The Kettle On | 17/2 | Aidan Coleman | Henry de Bromhead |
| 2020 | Politologue | 6/1 | Harry Skelton | Paul Nicholls |
| 2019 | Altior | 4/11F | Nico de Boinville | Nicky Henderson |
| 2018 | Altior | 1/1F | Nico de Boinville | Nicky Henderson |
| 2017 | Special Tiara | 11/1 | Noel Fehily | Henry De Bromhead |
| 2016 | Sprinter Sacre | 5/1 | Nico de Boinville | Nicky Henderson |
| 2015 | Dodging Bullets | 9/2 | Sam Twiston-Davies | Paul Nicholls |
| 2014 | Sire De Grugy | 11/4F | Jamie Moore | Gary Moore |
| 2013 | Sprinter Sacre | 1/4F | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson |
| 2012 | Finians Rainbow | 4/1 | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson |
| 2011 | Sizing Europe | 10/1 | A E Lynch | Henry De Bromhead |
Other Races on Day 2 of the Cheltenham Festival
The Queen Mother Champion Chase is the feature race of Day 2. Here are the rest of the races for Wednesday at the Festival:
13:30 The Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle Race (Grade 1)
14:10 The Brown Advisory Novices’ Steeple Chase (Grade 1)
14:50 The Coral Cup Hurdle (A Handicap Hurdle Race) (Grade 3)
15:30 The Betway Queen Mother Champion Steeplechase (Grade 1)
16:10 The Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechase
16:50 The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Steeple Chase Challenge Cup (Grade 3)
17:30 The Weatherbys Champion Bumper (A Standard Open NH Flat Race) (Grade 1)