Liberthine Mares’ Chase Trends For the 2026 Cheltenham Festival

Feb 5th, 2026 6:42 AM EST

2026 Liberthines Mares’ Chase Trends

The Mares’ Chase is one of the newest races at the Cheltenham Festival. First run in 2021, it has been a popular race that takes place on Gold Cup day. It’s now been in operation enough times for us to establish a few early trends. These trends can provide important pointers for future renewals and will only be added on as the years pass.

The team at Bookies.com have gone through the various Mares’ Chase trends. This research can now be used by readers to help shape what Cheltenham free bets they are going to place at the Festival. It might still be a newly introduced race, but there are several clues to bear in mind based on previous renewals.

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The last five winners:

Aged either seven or eight years old
Were trained in Ireland
Had been rated 147 or higher
Traded no worse than third favourite
Were priced no bigger than odds of 3/1
Carried weight between 11-2 and 11-7
Won last time out
Had between 3-6 chase wins prior to winning this race

Four of the last five winners:

Had either been sent off as favourite or second favourite
Had a rating of 150 or higher going into the race
Had been priced at no bigger than 15/8

Key Trials From the Last Five Years

2022 winner Elimay and 2025 champion Dinoblue both won the same prep race before taking the Liberthine Mares’ Chase. The former fended off four rivals to win the BBA Ireland Limited Opera Hat Mares’ Chase. Three years later, Dinoblue also won this encounter at Naas when beating favourite Allegorie De Vassy by a neck. This is a two-mile encounter in early February where the ground conditions are nearly always testing.

2024 winner Limerick Lace obliged for trainer Gavin Cromwell after previously claiming the spoils in the KC Sofas Doncaster Yorkshire Silver Vase Mares’ Chase. The previous year’s winner was Impervious won the Madigan Group Novice Chase at odds of 3/1 before claiming the bigger victory at the Cheltenham Festival.

The first ever winner of the Cheltenham Mares’ Chase was Colreevy in 2021. She had previously impressed when winning the Coolmore N.H. Sires Kew Gardens Irish EBF Mares’ Novice Chase at Thurles. She won at odds of 4/5 in a field of nine horses, so there are multiple routes that can be taken on the road to Cheltenham for this race.

Trainer Trends

Willie Mullins has saddled three of the five winners since the race was introduced at Cheltenham. They are Colreevy, Elimay and Dinoblue.
All winning trainers have so far been Irish. In addition to Mullins, Gavin Cromwell and Colm Murphy have also been successful with Limerick Lace and Impervious respectively.
Gavin Cromwell had two horses out of the first five home in the 2025 race. Brides Hill was runner-up and Limerick Lace finished fifth.
The 2024 race saw Willie Mullins saddle the second, fourth and fifth-placed horses, with Dinoblue finishing runner-up a year before going one better.

Jockey Trends

Mark Walsh is the only jockey to have won this race more than once. He triumphed on Elimay in 2022 and Dinoblue in 2025.
Keith Donoghue has ridden the winner and the runner-up in the past two renewals of the Mares’ Chase.
Paul Townend rode inaugural winner Colreevy to victory in 2021 and also finished second on Allegorie De Vassy in 2023.

How Did the Trends do Last Year?

Due to this Cheltenham Festival race still being in its infancy, it’s hard to determine the trends. The 2025 race was only the fifth time the race had been run. Therefore, there wasn’t enough historic data to come up with trends-based picks.

However, we now have five years’ worth of data, and that’s useful when compiling a shortlist of potential Mares’ Chase winners. Dinoblue ticked a number of boxes when winning in 2025. She was firstly saddled by Willie Mullins after the Irish handler had triumphed on two occasions already.

Dinoblue also became the third winner that was aged eight. She was a short price in the betting, having been sent off as the 6/4 favourite. While this made her the first market leader to win, she followed in the footsteps of short-priced horses obliging with a victory.

Last year’s winner was rated at 157, meaning she was the fourth victor with a rating of 150+. She was carrying 11-7, which is exactly the same mark that Colreevy had four years previously when scoring in the first-ever renewal.

2025 runner up Brides Hill also met a number of trends, including being eight years old. The first five home were all that age, with the Gavin Cromwell-trained charge well beaten into second at odds of 9/2. She also had a 150+ rating and the weight allowance of 11-5 was another pointer.

Who Fits the Trends Best in 2026?

Dinoblue looks set to line up to defend her Mares’ Chase crown in 2026. She would become the first nine-year-old to win. The mare would also be the first horse to achieve a double success. However, Willie Mullins has a 60% success rate, which bodes well for the horse. The fact that she’s achieved a victory over course and distance is simply a big plus.

The same trainer has Spindleberry entered, and the eight-year-old ticks several boxes including her age. The horse has notched successive victories this term and has a rating that would also fit the recent trend of winners. Only By Night is another Irish-trained eight-year-old, and we know Gavin Cromwell has a strong track record in this race since it was introduced at the meeting.

2025 Mares’ Chase Result

Position	Name	Price	Trainer	Jockey
1st	Dinoblue	6/4F	Willie Mullins	Mark Walsh
2nd	Brides Hill	9/2	Gavin Cromwell	Keith Donoghue
3rd	Shecouldbeanything	12/1	Gordon Elliott	Danny Gilligan

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About the Author

Matthew Glazier

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Matthew Glazier, the former Head of Marketing at bet365, is a veteran in the online betting industry and contributes to Bookies.com. Whether it's online casino or sports betting, there's nothing he hasn't seen before. He's always got his eye out for new casinos, betting features and bonuses.