Arkle Challenge Trophy

The second race of the Cheltenham Festival is named after one of its most famous competitors, Arkle. Run over exactly two miles of the Cheltenham Racecourse the Arkle requires both speed and good jumping technique.

The Arkle is run at a furious pace and the emphasis is very much on fluent jumping.  Analysis of recent Arkle winners points towards entrants coming to Cheltenham on the back of an impressive season. Shocks in the Arkle are few and far between and the Cheltenham Betting market favourites usually perform well.

The Arkle Challenge Trophy was inaugurated in 1969, after Arkle’s three wins in the Cheltenham Gold Cup (1964-66). In its first year, the race was worth £1,365, and was won by Chatham (10/1), trained by Fred Rimell and ridden by Terry Biddlecombe. The 2009 running has total prize money of £170,000. It was known as the Cotswold Chase before 1969.

Irish trainers have won The Irish Independent Arkle Chase ten times, including four of the last 14 runnings with Klairon Davis (1995), Ventana Canyon (1996) and Moscow Flyer (2002) and Forpaddytheplasterer in (2009).

The Irish Independent Arkle Chase has seen several trainers and jockeys run up strings of wins. Martin Pipe notched up successive wins with Or Royal in 1997 and Champleve in 1998 before Well Chief in 2004 and Contraband a year later gave him another brace of victories. Peter Easterby trained three winners - Alverton 1978, Clayside 1981 and Ryeman 1983.

Among current trainers, Nicky Henderson leads the way with three successes (Remittance Man 1991, Travado 1993 and Tiutchev 2000), while both Paul Nicholls (Flagship Uberalles in 1999 and Azertyuiop in 2003) and Alan King, successful in the two of the past three renewals with My Way De Solzen in 2007 and Voy Por Ustedes in 2006, boast a pair of victories.

Among jockeys, Jamie Osborne won three times, via a hat-trick between 1992 and 1994 on Young Pokey, Travado, and Nakir for three different trainers, Oliver Sherwood, Nicky Henderson and Simon Christian.

Tony McCoy equalled Osborne’s three wins in 2004 when scoring on Well Chief, having also been aboard Or Royal (1997) and Champleve (1998). Robert Thornton was on Voy Por Ustedes in 2006 and My Way De Solzen in 2007.

Arkle odds

The Arkle betting goes through many changes in the run up to the Arkle as all season the class Novice Hurdlers try their hooves over the larger fences and some take to it really well while others are slow learners. Take for example last year 2008 Arkle winner Tidal Bay has not jumped well in the build up to last years race but on the day he jumped like a stag. His odds fluctuated wildly throughout the season and you can follow the Arkle odds on our site.

Check out the latest Arkle Odds on our comparison tables

Latest Arkle Chase Form

Outlined on this section are the principles for the 2010 Arkle and you can check out the latest form guide on this section.

Arkle Chase Form

Latest Arkle Chase Tips

Look no further than the top trainers for the winner of this race and for more top Arkle tips check out our race tipping preview.

Arkle Chase Tips

Latest Arkle Chase Results

Winners of the Arkle Chase this decade:

2010 Sizing Europe 8 (A Lynch) 6/1
2009 Forpadydeplasterer 7 (B Geraghty) 8/1
2008 Tidal Bay 7 J Howard Johnson 6/1
2007 My Way de Solzen 7 A King 7/2
2006 Voy Por Ustedes 5 A King 15/2
2005 Contraband 7 M Pipe 7/1
2004 Well Chief 5 M Pipe 9/1
2003 Azertyuiop 6 P Nicholls 5/4F
2002 Moscow Flyer 8 Mrs J Harrington 11/2
2000 Tiutchev 7 N Henderson 8/1

Arkle Chase Results

More

• Arkle Challenge Trophy Race Information
• Arkle Challenge Trophy Odds
• Arkle Challenge Trophy Tips
• Arkle Challenge Trophy Form
• Arkle Challenge Trophy Results