The Ultima Handicap Chase is the opening handicap contest of the Festival and often provides punters with a competitive betting heat to dig their teeth into. With so much to decipher, our experts have picked out their winning predictions, to give you the best chance of finding the winner for the 2026 race.
Andrew Mount’s Ultima Handicap Chase Tip
Andrew has two shots to fire at the Ultima Handicap Chase. Last year’s winner Myretown could go back-to-back in a race his connections love, while Resplendent Grey offers good back-up value. He is two from two in first-time headgear.
Matty Sutcliffe’s Ultima Handicap Chase Tip
Matty opts for a Graded horse in a handicap here. He believes Handstands has the class to make light of a big weight, with his form against Protektorat last time out particularly useful.
Ultima Handicap Chase Bookmaker Odds – Race 3, Tuesday 10th March 2:40
All About The Ultima Handicap Chase in 2026
The Ultima Handicap Chase is one of the leading staying handicaps of the jumps season. Its place as the first handicap race of the Festival serves as a punter’s favourite puzzle, with more runners and more competition than the races surrounding it.
Run over three miles and a furlong of the old course, the 2024 field will only begin to take shape as the season progresses. Until declarations are announced it’s difficult to know which horses are going to line up here.
Qualifications/Trends
Any horse aged five or over can compete in the race and they must have earned a handicap mark. No five-year-olds have won this from the end of the Second World War though, as that age group would routinely find this too tough a stamina test.
Unusually, however, though age often brings with it staying power, Vintage Clouds was the first horse aged 10 or above to win this race since 2010 when winning in 2021, ensuring more than a decade’s gap in between.
It also pays to mix things up in looking for the winner. When Un Temps Pour Tout won his second Ultima Handicap Chase in 2017, he was the first horse to repeat his initial victory since Scot Lane in 1983. He broke a second unwritten rule in the race as well: as top-weight, he was the first to carry the heaviest burden since Arkloin in 1966, though Corach Rambler has since matches the two-time winning feat.
Class can often be a positive factor, though. Along with David Pipe’s dual winner, five other horses have won the race carrying 11st 3lb or more since 2014, while only two horses have carried fewer than 10st 5lb since 2006. Those at the bottom of the handicap often find these deeper waters more difficult to swim in, although that wasn’t the case for Corach Rambler in 2022, winning off just 10st 2lbs.
Similarly, Vintage Clouds’ 28/1 success in this was an anomaly. Before him, no horse priced above 11/1 had been successful since 2013, so the bookmakers usually have a fair understanding of who is likely to win, albeit Coo Star Sivola and Wichita Lineman are the only favourites, outright or joint, to be victorious since the turn of the millennium.
Ultima Handicap Chase History
This is a genuine test for handicap chasers, as proven by the fact that only three horses have ever won this race more than once. Combine that with only two jockeys having won the race three times (Robert Thornton and Tom Scudamore), and two trainers having won four each (Fred Rimell and Fulke Walwyn), and you can see how well this prize has been spread around.
This is often seen as an excellent race to take in before a tilt at the Grand National. Sixhorses have gone on to win a Grand National off the back of this race, although only two have done so in the same season: Seagram back in 1991, and Corach Rambler most recently in 2023.
With fewer horses rising through the ranks of handicaps, and indeed fewer Grade 1 horses competing in such races, the Ultima has not produced as many Gold Cup runners/winners as it used to. No fewer than four winners of this race in the 1950s went on to win a Gold Cup, while Charter Party did so in the 1980s. More recently, only Holywell has gone on from this race to go close in a Gold Cup when fourth in 2015.
Unlike so many races to have fallen their way in recent history, there has remarkably been no Irish winner of this race for 18 years. Dun Doire was the last to do so for Tony Martin back in 2006, only a year more recently than one of few French winners at the Festival, Kelami for the now retired Francois Doumen.
Winners since 2000
| Year | Horse | Jockey/Trainer | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Marlborough | J: Mick Fitzgerald T:Nicky Henderson | 11/2 |
| 2001 | VOID | J:N/A T:N/A | VOID |
| 2002 | Frenchman’s Creek | J:Paul Carberry T:Hughie Morrison | 8/1 |
| 2003 | Youlneverwalkalone | J:Barry Geraghty T:Christy Roche | 7/1 |
| 2004 | Fork Lightning | J:Robert Thornton T:Alan King | 7/1 |
| 2005 | Kelami | J:Robert Thonrton T:Francois Doumen | 8/1 |
| 2006 | Dun Doire | J:Ruby Walsh T:Tony Martin | 7/1 |
| 2007 | Joes Edge | J:Davy Russell T:Ferdy Murphy | 50/1 |
| 2008 | An Accordion | J:Tom Scudamore T:David Pipe | 7/1 |
| 2009 | Wichita Lineman | J:Tony McCoy T:Jonjo O’Neill | 5/1F |
| 2010 | Chief Dan George | J:Paddy Aspell T:James Moffatt | 33/1 |
| 2011 | Bensalem | J:Robert Thornton T:Alan King | 5/1 |
| 2012 | Alfie Sherrin | J:Richie McLernon T:Jonjo O’Neill | 14/1 |
| 2013 | Golden Chieftain | J:Brendan Powell Jr T:Colin Tizzard | 28/1 |
| 2014 | Holywell | J:Richie McLernon T:Jonjo O’Neill | 10/1 |
| 2015 | The Druids Nephew | J:Barry Geraghty T:Neil Mulholland | 8/1 |
| 2016 | Un Temps Pour Tout | J:Tom Scudamore T:David Pipe | 11/1 |
| 2017 | Un Temps Pour Tout | J:Tom Scudamore T:David Pipe | 9/1 |
| 2018 | Coo Star Sivola | J:Lizzie Kelly T:Nick Williams | 5/1F |
| 2019 | Beware The Bear | J:Jeremiah McGrath T:Nicky Henderson | 10/1 |
| 2020 | The Conditional | J:Brendan Powell Jr T:David Bridgwater | 15/2 |
| 2021 | Vintage Clouds | J:Ryan Mania T:Sue Smith | 28/1 |
| 2022 | Corach Rambler | J:Derek Fox T:Lucinda Russell | 10/1 |
| 2023 | Corach Rambler | J:Derek Fox T:Lucinda Russell | 6/1J |
| 2024 | Chianti Classico | J:David Bass T:Kim Bailey | 6/1 |
| 2025 | Myretown | J:Patrick Wadge T:Lucinda Russell | 13/2F |
| 2026 | Johnnywho | J:Richie McLernon T:Jonjo O’Neill | 18/1 |
Cheltenham Festival Racing Schedule – Day 1
| Time | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| 1:20 | Supreme Novices’ Hurdle | 2m 87y |
| 2:00 | Arkle Challenge Trophy | 1m 7f 199y |
| 2.40 | Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle | 2m 87y |
| 3:20 | Ultima Handicap Chase | 3m 1f |
| 4:00 | Champion Hurdle | 2m 87y |
| 4.40 | TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase | 2m 4f 127y |
| 5:20 | National Hunt Chase | 3m 5f 201y |