2025 Ultima Handicap Chase Trends

Need some help finding the winner of the 2025 edition of the Ultima Handicap Chase? Well, look no further because our team of experts at Bookies.com have done the hard work for you by pinpointing the most critical trends and pointers from the last 10 renewals in order to help you find the winner of this chase to use Cheltenham free bets on. 

The last 10 winners:

• Were trained in Britain.
• Had won no more than four chases, the majority winning one or two.
• Had tasted victory over at least three miles over hurdles or fences.
• Had scored on a galloping track.
• Had at least three starts in the previous 12 months; only Corach Rambler before his second win had fewer than four.
• Had run at Cheltenham before (six of these winners had run over fences at Prestbury Park), with five winning.
• Finished in the first three in one of their last three starts.
• Had taken part in at least one handicap chase; five of the last six winners had won more than one handicap chase - Beware The Bear, Vintage Clouds, Corach Rambler (twice) and last year's winner Chianti Classico (twice).

Nine of the last 10 winners:

• Did not carry top weight. Finishing positions of last 10 topweights: 43P3107FP0P; (exception Un Temps Pour Tout's second win).
• Rated between 139-151.

Key Trials from the last 10 years

The Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas has thrown up three places in the last 10 years. Meetingofthewaters beat Panda Boy by four-and-a-half lengths in the 2023 edition, and he finished third at the Festival in 2024. 2024's winner at Leopardstown was Perceval Legallois.

Beware the Bear used the Ladbrokes Trophy (now known as the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury) as his trial in 2019. In 2022, the first four were Le Milos, Remastered, Gericault Roque and Corach Rambler, with the third and fourth filling the top two spots in the 2022 Cheltenham race and Corach Rambler winning in 2023. Last year, Kandoo Kid, Broadway Boy, Victtorino and General En Chef were first home.

2022’s Ultima first and second, Corach Rambler and Gericault, finished fourth and second in the valuable Classic Chase at Warwick, which 2020 winner, The Conditional, was also placed in. In 2023, only one runner from the race, Threeunderthrufive, ran in the Ultima, finishing eighth, having been sixth at Warwick. In 2025, the meeting was abandoned, giving us one fewer trends race to look to.

It's also a positive to have run in this race before or any other handicap chase at Cheltenham. Dual winner Corach Rambler had won a handicap chase at the track in December before his first win, Vintage Clouds had been second in the Cheltenham Festival race in 2019, The Conditional had won a Cheltenham handicap chase in October, Beware The Bear had won one in January, Un Temps Pour Tout won twice, and before that had finished fourth at the track, The Druids Nephew had been second in November and Golden Chieftain had been third in December.

Trainer Trends

• The last 18 winners were trained in Britain. Only two winners were trained by trainers based in Ireland in the past 27 renewals. It's not a kind race to the raiding party, with only eight Irish-trained horses featuring in the first four in the last 10 years.
• With three winners each, David Pipe (also has six placed finishers) and Jonjo O'Neill (also has seven placed finishers) have the best record in the race.
• Lucinda Russell won the 2022 and 2023 renewals with Corach Rambler
• Nicky Henderson has a rather unlucky record with two winners and nine places over the last 24 years.
• Venetia Williams (one place from 26 starts), Paul Nicholls (four places from 23 starts) and Nigel Twiston-Davies (two places from 29 starts) are all trainers who have bad records in the race over the past 22 years.

Jockey Trends

• Derek Fox has won two renewals on the plucky Corach Rambler
• Tom Scudamore is more successful than any other jockey in the race in recent times, with three winners since 2008 (all for trainer David Pipe) and five places overall, but he retired in 2023.
• Richie McLernon rides the race very well, with two winners (both for Jonjo O’Neill) and three places from seven rides.
• David Bass was on board Chianti Classico for the winner last year

How did the trends do last year?

Winner Chianti Classico was on the trends radar before his 2024 win. He ticked every box, with the exception of having only run three times in the previous 12 months, whereas the nine winners before him had run at least four times. He was also seen as a little unexposed but came through very well to show the trends are worth following again.

Second Twig had won multiple handicap chases, but it was a career-best effort from Ben Pauling's horse. Third Meetingofthewaters was trained in Ireland, while fourth home, Famous Bridge, was making his debut at Cheltenham. 

Who Fits The Trends Best In 2025?

This is usually a wide-open affair, and ante-post lists at horse racing betting sites indicate that is likely to again be the case in March 2025.

There are a number who could fit the bill such as Monbeg Genius, who has placed in the race before, and the likes of Broadway Boy and Perceval Legallois, who won key races that mark out performances in this race. However, there are two horses that standout at present in Rebecca Curtis' eight-year-old Haiti Couleurs and Nicky Henderson's Hyland. Henderson would have to overturn a relatively poor record in the race, but both fit every key trend from each of the last 10 winners of the race.

2025 Ultima Handicap Chase Odds