The Arkle Trophy Chase is a Grade 1 race exclusively for novice horses, run over two miles and held on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. It is named after the famous Irish steeplechaser who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three years in a row between 1964 and 1966. The winner of this race often returns to Cheltenham in subsequent years to participate in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, with Flagship Uberalles, Moscow Flyer, Sprinter Sacre and Altior being notable examples of horses to have won both races.
Nicky Henderson is the most successful trainer in the history of the race, having trained the winner seven times, the most recent being Shishkin in 2021.
The field below ran in the 2024 running, won by Gaelic Warrior.
My Pension Expert Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) (GBB Race)
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Result2nd7/1
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Result1st3/1
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Result5th11/2
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Result3rd6/1
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Result7th8/1
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Result4th18/1
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Result6th9/1
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Result8th13/2
Latest Arkle Chase Betting Odds *
The Arkle Chase is still a long time away, so we do not have clear odds on which horses will participate.
Arkle Chase Odds and Entries 2025
The betting has this year’s Arkle Chase as an open affair. With so many entries still in play, we will bring you our tips and selections once the field is whittled down at the declaration stages.
Betting on the Arkle Chase
The Arkle Challenge Trophy is the most prestigious two-mile novices’ chase of the season. The race often features a clash between the best novice chasers from Great Britain and Ireland with some big reputations on the line.
They invariably go at a fast pace here so there is no margin for error when it comes to the jumping. It is almost impossible to recover from a serious mistake over two miles at this level. Horses aged six and seven dominated this race, although Edwardstone won as an eight-year-old in 2022.
Ante-post betting on the Arkle Chase runs throughout the year and those who have taken early prices have often been rewarded. The Arkle is one of the best races for favourites at the Cheltenham Festival. They account for eight of the last eleven races and six of those started at odds-on. The shortest priced winners were Douvan (2016) and Altior (2017) who both started at the prohibitive odds of 1-4 favourite. The biggest shock result in recent times was the 33-1 victory of Western Warhorse in 2014 while Put The Kettle On won at 16-1 in 2020.
Arkle Chase News
The Arkle is set to be the second race of the Cheltenham Festival 2025. With the field still up in the air in terms of known quantities, any news will be brought to you nearer to the race.