The Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase is the second Grade 1 to take place on day 2 of the Cheltenham Festival. Run over a trip of 3m 1f, the Brown Advisory will be run at 2.00pm on Wednesday 11 March at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.
Our team of tipsters, which includes Andrew Mount and Matty Sutcliffe will provide their Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase best bets nearer the off…

Matty Sutcliffe’s Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase Tips
The Brits can lead home the 16-runner field in the Brown Advisory with Wendigo says Matty Sutcliffe. The strong stayer is the only prominent member of the market to have won over 3m.
Andrew Mount’s Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase Tips
Andrew is also siding with Jamie Snowden’s Wendigo. He believes the Cheltenham course and distance will suit ideally and has strong form to mix it with the leading Irish contenders.
Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase Bookmaker Odds – Race 2, Wednesday 11th March 2:00
All About The Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase Trophy in 2026
The Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase offers future staying chasers a perfect Grade 1 stepping stone to their future.
The 2026 renewal will see a hugely competitive line up and Final Demand will be a leading contender for Willie Mullins. The Big Westerner is a top class staying novice chaser and is set to line up, as are the likes of Western Fold, Wendigo and Kaid d’Authie, who shocked Final Demand when the pair clashed at the Dublin Racing Festival. They will now be joined by Romeo Coolio, who steps up in trip.
Qualifications/Trends
We pick out some of the key trends for the 2026 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase:
- The last 10 winners have been aged 7 or 8
- 5 of the last 10 winners have been favourite
- 5 of the last 10 winners have been trained in UK, 5 have been trained in Ireland
- 4 of the last 10 winners have been rated over 155

Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase History
Another race that was briefly split into two parts in the post-war years, the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase was sponsored by Royal & SunAlliance for 46 years between 1974 and 2020. To many fans “The RSA” is still an unshakeable nickname.
In the pre-RSA days two horses stand out among the winners’ board. Mandarin won this race an enormous five years before he took the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1962, the longest gap between Festival victories. A year later, Arkle arrived on the scene, his win in this race preceding his hat-trick of Gold Cups between 1964-66.
Since Arkle, there have been seven horses who have landed the Gold Cup subsequently. This is strikingly low given the correlation of races, but also hints at the competitiveness of the Cheltenham Festival year on year.
Those seven were Ten Up, who won the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase in 1974, Master Smudge (1979), Garrison Savannah (1990), Looks Like Trouble (1999), Denman (2007), Bobs Worth (2012) and Lord Windermere (2013). All of them took the Gold Cup one year after their success, but none of them did so again. A case study into the peaks of chasers perhaps.
That’s not to dismiss some other fantastic names on the roll of honour. Spanish Steps was famous for chasing Red Rum’s saddlecloth round Aintree, but was a brilliant horse in his own right, while Miinnehoma won the National itself two years after he won his RSA Chase.
Florida Pearl carried the hopes of Ireland round the Gold Cup course for many years after his 1998 success here, while Albertas Run would find his home over a shorter trip, landing two Ryanair Chases after winning this in 2008.
In more recent seasons, though no horse has gone on to win the Gold Cup, the race has witnessed some extremely dramatic climaxes of its own right, with Might Bite’s wayward antics and Champ’s last gasp heroics sending the Cheltenham crowd into raptures. Even amongst that, Willie Mullins has managed to win the last renewals with odds-on favourite Fact To File and outsider Lecky Watson.

Winners since 2000
| Year | Horse | Jockey/Trainer | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Lord Noelie | J:Jim Culloty T:Henrietta Knight | 9/2 |
| 2001 | VOID | J:N/A T:N/A | VOID |
| 2002 | Hussard Collonges | J:Russ Garritty T:Peter Beaumont | 33/1 |
| 2003 | One Knight | J:Richard Johnson T:Philip Hobbs | 15/2 |
| 2004 | Rule Supreme | J:David Casey T:Willie Mullins | 25/1 |
| 2005 | Trabolgan | J:Mick Fitzgerald T:Nicky Henderson | 5/1 |
| 2006 | Star de Mohaison | J:Barry Geraghty T:Paul Nicholls | 14/1 |
| 2007 | Denman | J:Ruby Walsh T:Paul Nicholls | 6/5F |
| 2008 | Albertas Run | J:Tony McCoy T:Jonjo O’Neill | 4/1F |
| 2009 | Cooldine | J:Ruby Walsh T:Willie Mullins | 9/4F |
| 2010 | Weapon’s Amnesty | J:Davy Russell T:Charles Byrnes | 10/1 |
| 2011 | Bostons Angel | J:Robbie Power T:Jessica Harrington | 16/1 |
| 2012 | Bobs Worth | J:Barry Geraghty T:Nicky Henderson | 9/2 |
| 2013 | Lord Windermere | J:Davy Russell T:Jim Culloty | 8/1 |
| 2014 | O’Faolain’s Boy | J:Barry Geraghty T:Rebecca Curtis | 12/1 |
| 2015 | Don Poli | J:Bryan Cooper T:Willie Mullins | 13/8F |
| 2016 | Blaklion | J:Ryan Hatch T:Nigel Twiston-Davies | 8/1 |
| 2017 | Might Bite | J:Nico de Boinville T:Nicky Henderson | 7/2 |
| 2018 | Presenting Percy | J:Davy Russell T:Pat Kelly | 5/2F |
| 2019 | Topofthegame | J:Harry Cobden T:Paul Nicholls | 4/1 |
| 2020 | Champ | J:Barry Geraghty T:Nicky Henderson | 4/1 |
| 2021 | Monkfish | J:Paul Townend T:Willie Mullins | 1/4F |
| 2022 | L’Homme Presse | J:Charlie Deutsch T:Venetia Williams | 9/4F |
| 2023 | The Real Whacker | J:Sam Twiston-Davies T:Patrick Neville | 8/1 |
| 2024 | Fact To File | J:Mark Walsh T:Willie Mullins | 8/13F |
| 2025 | Lecky Watson | J:Sean O’Keeffe T:Willie Mullins | 20/1 |

