The Sun Racing Plate Handicap Chase is a competitive handicap run over an extended 2m4f on day 1 of the Cheltenham Festival. With so many selections to choose from, GG’s experts have analysed this Grade 3 handicap in its entirety so that you can find this year’s winner.
Matty Sutcliffe’s Plate Tips
Matty’s ante-post selection in the Plate was the veteran Jungle Boogie, who could roll back the years and show his class in a competitive heat.
Joe Napier’s Plate Tips
Joe was struck by the run last time of Madara, who is building back to for connections having a tremendous season courtesy of Panic Attack.
Sun Racing Plate Handicap Chase Bookmaker Odds – Race 5, Tuesday 10th March 4:40
All About the Sun Racing Plate Handicap Chase in 2027
Five of the last ten renewals have been won by horses at double-figure odds, so it might pay to look further down the betting in this. However, there could just as easily be strong market support for one or two well-treated types, so it is worth heeding market signals when we know more about the field.
Plate Overlooked Outsiders
With so many double-figure priced winners in recent years, there will likely be a few who fly under the radar that are worth considering.
Qualifications/Trends
The TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase is open to five-year-olds and upwards. Although the Grade 3 contest is open to the five-year-old age group, only one horse has ever been successful at that age, which was Martin Pipe’s Majadou in 1999.
The Grade 3 contest is always fiercely competitive and it is those runners carrying under 11st that have faired the best and have remarkably taken seventeen renewals since the turn of the century, although three of the last five winners have carried greater than that mark in Simply The Betts (2020), Coole Cody (2022) and Shakem Up’arry (2024) being the only previous winners to carry more weight.
Runners with handicap ratings in the 140s have proven to be a useful tool in solving this tricky handicap in recent years with last year’s winner Jagwar the first for more than ten years to be rated below 140. And even he was rated 139!
This is a handicap that has normally gone the way of the British-trained runners in the past and has been a race that Somerset trainer David Pipe has targeted and landed three times between 2010-2014 after his father Martin enjoyed four victories in dove renewals between 1997 and 2002. Despite the British runners enjoying plenty of success, the Irish have now won five of the last eight runnings in recent seasons.
In the past, this Grade 3 event was a race that favourites had a particularly poor record in with only David Pipe’s Salut Flo (2012) being the only market leader to win since 1999, where Martin Pipe landed the prize with A.P. McCoy and Majadou.
Plate Handicap Chase History
The inaugural race took place in April 1951 as the festival was scheduled a month later due to the course being waterlogged in March. The race was originally titled the Mildmay Of Flete Handicap Chase in memory of an amateur national hunt jockey who rode three winners at The Cheltenham Festival.
The Racing Post took over sponsorship of the grade 3 contest from 2006 to 2008 before the 2009 race was run in memory of Freddie Williams, a renowned Scottish bookmaker who had a pitch on course at Cheltenham. Construction firm Byrne Group later took over the sponsorship from 2010-2014 and Brown Advisory & Merribelle Stable supported the event from 2015-2020. Leading bookmaker Paddy Power will sponsor the race again in 2024.
Only The Tsarevich (1985 & 1986) and Elfast (1992 & 1994) have won this contest more than once, though several past winners including Mister McGoldrick (2008) have returned to be placed in this event.
Trainer Nicky Henderson shares the leading trainer record in this event with Bobby Renton and Martin Pipe with four wins each, though Nicky Henderson hasn’t saddled a winner in this grade 3 feature contest since 2006, where jockey Mick Fitzgerald partnered the eight-yer-old Non So to success.
Jockey Bryan Cooper remains the only jockey in the modern era to ride back to back wins in this event as he partnered Empire of dirt and Road To Respect to victory in the 2016 and 2017 renewals.
There was also a celebrity winner in 2024, as Shakem Up’arry was guided to success by Ben Jones for owner Harry Redknapp.
Winners since 2000
| Year | Horse | Jockey/Trainer | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Dark Stranger | J:Richard Johnson T:Martin Pipe | 8/1 |
| 2001 | VOID | J:N/A T:N/A | VOID |
| 2002 | Blowing Wind | J:Ruby Walsh T:Martin Pipe | 20/1 |
| 2003 | Young Spartacus | J:Richard Johnson T:Henry Daly | 6/1F |
| 2004 | Tikram | J:Timmy Murphy T:Gary Moore | 50/1 |
| 2005 | Liberthine | J:Sam Waley Cohen T:Nicky Henderson | 10/1 |
| 2006 | Non So | J:Mick Fitzgerald T:Nicky Henderson | 50/1 |
| 2007 | Idole First | J:Alan O’Keeffe T:Venetia Williams | 14/1 |
| 2008 | Mister McGoldrick | J:Dominic Elsworth T:Sue Smith | 18/1 |
| 2009 | Something Wells | J:Will Biddick T:Venetia Williams | 16/1 |
| 2010 | Great Endeavour | J:Danny Cook T:David Pipe | 16/1 |
| 2011 | Holmwood Legend | J:Keiran Burke T:Patrick Rodford | 20/1 |
| 2012 | Salut Flo | J:Tom Scudamore T:David Pipe | 14/1 |
| 2013 | Carrickboy | J:Liam Treadwell T:Venetia Williams | 25/1 |
| 2014 | Ballynagour | J:Tom Scudamore T:David Pipe | 9/2F |
| 2015 | Darna | J:David Bass T:Kim Bailey | 9/1 |
| 2016 | Empire Of Dirt | J:Bryan Cooper T:Colm Murphy | 14/1 |
| 2017 | Road To Respect | J:Bryan Cooper T:Noel Meade | 11/1 |
| 2018 | The Storyteller | J:Davy Russell T:Gordon Elliott | 6/1 |
| 2019 | Siruh Du Lac | J:Lizzie Kelly T:Nick Williams | 4/1F |
| 2020 | Simply The Betts | J:Gavin Sheehan T:Harry Whittington | 10/1 |
| 2021 | The Shunter | J:Jordan Gainford T:Emmet Mullins | 12/1 |
| 2022 | Coole Cody | J:Adam Wedge T:Evan Williams | 22/1 |
| 2023 | Seddon | J:Ben Harvey T:John McConnell | 20/1 |
| 2024 | Shakem Up’Arry | J: Ben Jones T:Ben Pauling | 8/1 |
| 2025 | Jagwar | J: Jonjo O’Neill Jnr T: Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero | 3/1F |
| 2026 | Madara | J: Harry Skelton T:Dan Skelton | 3/1F |
Cheltenham Festival Racing Schedule
| 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 |