Archive for February, 2011

The stand-out race of the second day of the Cheltenham Festival is The Queen Mother Champion Chase which historically dates back to 1959 when it was originally called the Champion Chase. At this inaugural event Bunny Cox rode Quita Que to victory. In 1980 it was renamed as The Queen Mother Champion Chase to mark the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and widow of George VI.

The Queen Mother is also honoured as the patron of the National Hunt Racing and throughout her life, even after her 100th birthday, she continued to attend the Cheltenham festival every year. She even owned and managed several of the national hunt race horses.

The Queen Mother Champion Chase is a Grade One steeple chase which is done over 2 miles at Prestbury Park on the main race course there. The horses who run in this race need to be over 5 years old and during the race they have to jump over 12 fences.

Age has little to do with the betting trends in the Champion Chase and the last five winners have been between 5 and 11 years of age. Generally the favourites for winning have had two wins already in the race and horses ridden by Ruby Walsh or trained by Paul Nicholls have all won three times at The Queen Mother Champion Chase.

You can get the best betting odds for the Cheltenham Festival on betting exchange Betfair. They even give new customers a free bet.