The St James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Hunters’ Steeple Chase is the premium amateur riders’ race run at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival. Run over the same course and distance as the preceding Cheltenham Gold Cup, the race can be referred to as the amateur rider’s Gold Cup. As the race creeps closes, our experts at GG will provide all the information you need in order to find the winner of the race, with tips and predictions aplenty.
Andrew Mount’s Hunter Chase Tips
Awaiting tips…
Matty Sutcliffe’s Hunter Chase Tips
Awaiting tips…
Open Hunters’ Chase Bookmaker Odds – Race 5, Friday 14th March 4:10
The Hunter Chase field is made up of horses from the point-to-point scene and is not clear in terms of the 2025 Festival yet. The 2024 field was smaller than usual and can be seen below.
St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase
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Result5th7/1
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Result4th50/1
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Result2nd15/8
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RamilliesJ: Mr R JamesT: D M Christie -
Result6th33/1
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Result3rd25/1
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Result1st12/1
All About St James’s Place Hunters’ Steeple Chase in 2025
Scheduled to be run just 40 minutes after the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Hunters’ Steeple Chase is contested over the exact same course and distance and requires the same 22 fences to be jumped. British wealth management company St. James’s Place continue their sponsorship of the race in 2025, which will be their sixth straight year associated.
Horses contesting the Hunters’ Chase are often considered regular ‘hunter chasers’ and therefore experience in a previous renewal of the race has proven popular amongst punters in recent renewals.
Qualifications/Trends
Only horses of 5yo and upwards are eligible to compete in the Hunters’ Steeple Chase and mares receive a 7lb weight allowance.
Potential runners must qualify for the race by participating in any of a number of qualifying contests that take place within an ascertained period of time. The qualifying races are hunter chases and point-to-points.
You must win or finish second twice in hunter chases, have won two point-to-points, or have won a point-to-point and then have finished first or second in a hunter chase.
The race has been something of a mixed bag in terms of winning prices, four favourites have landed the spoils since 2013, but during that same time period there have been two 16/1 winners, a 25/1 winner and even a 66/1 winner!
Horses trained predominantly for the point-to-point discipline enjoyed success in the race in the last 90s and early 00s, but in recent years there has been a far greater shift towards horses that spent the majority of their time contesting hunter chases in Britain and Ireland.
This has coincided with the average age of the winners increasing. With horses tending to switch to hunter chases later in their career, it is perhaps no surprise that the last seven eight winners have been aged 10 or older.
Prize Money in 2025
Connections of Sine Nomine picked up just over £24,000 thanks to the 10yo’s victory last season, with a total pot of over £48,000 available.
The prize pot for the 2025 renewal is £48,000.
Hunters’ Steeple Chase History
The contest had its inaugural renewal in 1904, and was first sponsored by the RSA Insurance company in 1972. Art auctioneers Christie’s took over sponsorship duties in 1979 and this partnership continued until 2012. Wealth management company St. James’s Place took over sponsorship in 2016 and continues their partnership with the race in 2023.
In total, nine horses have gone on to win the Foxhunter twice, with the vast majority of those following up the following season.
The Callant (1956,1957), College Master (1961, 1962), Double Silk (1993, 1994), Salsify (2012, 2013), On The Fringe (2015, 2016) and Pacha Du Polder (2017, 2018) all fell into the bracket of winners that won back-to-back editions of the race. Whinstone Hill (1958, 1960) and Fantus (1995, 1997) both won two renewals in the space of three years, but perhaps the most notable dual winner was Earthmover (1998, 2004), who won the race six years after his first success, in turn becoming the first 13yo winner in over 60 years!
Earthmover’s second Foxhunter success provided then trainer Paul Nicholls with his first in the race, and the Ditcheat maestro is now the joint-most successful trainer in the history of the Foxhunter with four wins (Earthmover 2004, Sleeping Night 2005 and Pacha du Polder 2017, 2018). He holds that honour with Richard Barber, who farmed the race in the mid 90s, landing four renewals from 1992 to 1998 with the likes of Rushing Wild (1992), Fantus (1995, 1997) and Earthmover (1998).
The Hunter Chase is considered by many to be the amateur rider’s Gold Cup and therefore the very best non-professionals in the saddle often participate year-on-year. The most successful rider in the history of the contest is currently Colman Sweeney (Sleeping Night 2005, Salsify 2012, 2013), whilst in 2016, dual Olympic Gold medal-winning cyclist Victoria Pendleton participated in the race, finishing 6th aboard Pacha Du Polder, who went on to land the next two editions of the race!
Winners since 2000
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Cavalero | Alex Charles-Jones | John Manners | 16/1 |
| 2001 | VOID | VOID | VOID | VOID |
| 2002 | Last Option | Fiona Needham | Robin Tate | 20/1 |
| 2003 | Kingscliff | Richard Young | Sally Alner | 11/4F |
| 2004 | Earthmover | Rilly Goschen | Paul Nicholls | 14/1 |
| 2005 | Sleeping Night | Colman Sweeney | Paul Nicholls | 7/2F |
| 2006 | Whyso Mayo | Damien Murphy | Raymond Hurley | 20/1 |
| 2007 | Drombeag | J.T McNamara | Jonjo O’Neill | 20/1 |
| 2008 | Amicelli | Oliver Greenall | Cherry Coward | 33/1 |
| 2009 | Cappa Bleu | Richard Burton | Sheila Crow | 11/2 |
| 2010 | Baby Run | Sam Twiston-Davies | Nigel Twiston-Davies | 9/2J |
| 2011 | Zemsky | Derek O’Connor | Ian Ferguson | 33/1 |
| 2012 | Salsify | Colman Sweeney | Rodger Sweeney | 7/1 |
| 2013 | Salsify | Colman Sweeney | Rodger Sweeney | 2/1F |
| 2014 | Tammys Hill | James Smyth | Liam Lennon | 15/2 |
| 2015 | On The Fringe | Nina Carberry | Enda Bolger | 6/1 |
| 2016 | On The Fringe | Nina Carberry | Enda Bolger | 13/8F |
| 2017 | Pacha Du Polder | Bryony Frost | Paul Nicholls | 16/1 |
| 2018 | Pacha Du Polder | Harriet Tucker | Paul Nicholls | 25/1 |
| 2019 | Hazel Hill | Alex Edwards | Philip Rowley | 7/2F |
| 2020 | It Came To Pass | Maxine O’Sullivan | Eugene O’Sullivan | 66/1 |
| 2021 | Porlock Bay | Lorcan Williams | Will Biddick | 16/1 |
| 2022 | Billaway | Patrick Mullins | Willie Mullins | 13/8F |
| 2023 | Premier Magic | Bradley Gibbs | Bradley Gibbs | 66/1 |
| 2024 | Sine Nomine | John Dawson | Fiona Needham | 8/1 |