Ryanair Chase
Officially registered as the Festival Trophy, the race now known as the Ryanair Chase was established in 2005, when the Cheltenham Festival was extended from three days to four. Initially a Grade 2 contest, the inaugural running was sponsored by the ‘Daily Telegraph’, but the Irish budget carrier took over in 2006 and the race has since gone from strength to strength, being promoted to Grade 1 status from 2008 onwards.
Currently scheduled as the fourth race on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival, a.k.a St. Patrick’s Thursday, the Ryanair Chase is run over the intermediate distance of an extended two-and-a-half miles, and 17 fences, on the New Course at Prestbury Park. As such, it is a ‘championship’ race for steeplechasers, aged five years and upwards, who optimum distance falls between the two miles of the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the extended three-and-a-quarter miles of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Two horses, Albertas Run (2010, 2011) and Allaho (2021, 2022), have recorded back-to-back victories in the Ryanair Chase and remain, jointly, the most successful in its history. Willie Mullins, who trained Allaho, also saddled Vautour (2016), Un de Sceaux (2017), Min (2020) and Fact To File (2025) for a total of six wins and is the leading trainer. Mullins’ former stable jockey Ruby Walsh, who rode Vautour and Un De Sceaux, plus Thisthatandtother (2005) and Taranis (2007) for his former boss, Paul Nicholls, remains the leading jockey with four wins.
Unsurprisingly, for a level-weights, Grade 1 contest, currently worth £375,000 in total prize money, the Ryanair has been dominated by well-fancied horses. At the time of writing, nine out of the last 10 renewals have been won by one of the first three in the betting, which, on five occasions, was the starting price favourite.