Ultima Handicap Chase Trends for the 2026 Cheltenham Festival

By Mark Fordham

Feb 12th, 2026 11:33 AM EST

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2026 Ultima Handicap Chase Trends

Need some help finding the winner of the 2026 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 at least three starts in the previous 12 months; only Corach Rambler before his second win had fewer than four.
• Finished in the first three in one of their last three starts.
• Had taken part in at least one handicap chase; six of the last seven winners had won more than one handicap chase.

Nine of the last 10 winners:

• Did not carry top weight. Finishing positions of last 10 topweights: 3P3107FP0PP; (exception Un Temps Pour Tout's second win).
• Rated 139 or higher.
• Had run at Cheltenham before (only Myretown was making his debut), with six of the last 10 winning at the course before.

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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, although he skipped Cheltenham last year in favour of running in the Grand National.

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, Panic Attack, Three Card Brag, The Changing Man and Gorgeous Tom 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 also placed in. In 2023, only one runner from the race, Threeunderthrufive, ran in the Ultima and finished eighth after coming sixth at Warwick. However, this meeting has been abandoned for the last two years, 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.

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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 seven Irish-trained horses featuring in the first four in the last 10 years.
• With three winners each, David Pipe (also has six placed finishers), Jonjo O'Neill (also has seven placed finishers) and Lucinda Russell (lifetime record of 111454) have the best record in the race.
• Russell won the 2022 and 2023 renewals with Corach Rambler, then claimed success in 2025 with Myretown
• Nicky Henderson has a rather unlucky record with two winners and nine places over the last 24 years.
• Venetia Williams (one place from 28 starts), Paul Nicholls (four places from 24 starts) and Nigel Twiston-Davies (two places from 31 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 eight rides.
• Patrick Wadge was on board Myretown for the winner last year

How Did the Trends do Last Year?

Last year's winner Myretown came in as 13/2 favourite and duly won in style, beating second-favourite The Changing Man by 11 lengths. The British-trained horse ticked off most of the trends, having won two of his four career chases - all of which came in the four months leading up to Cheltenham - and emerged victorious over three miles at Kelso just a month previously.

The eight-year-old did buck a couple of trends, most notably being rated just 127, and he'd never raced at Cheltenham before, but was otherwise a logical winner of the Ultima.

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Who Fits The Trends Best In 2026?

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 2026.

There are a few horses that fit the bill this year, but Jagwar is not one despite the odds. He does deserve some notice after winning the TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase at Cheltenham last year, but he's never raced over three miles and has only taken to the track twice since that victory 12 months ago.

Given his impressive success in this race last year, Myretown will be popular and certainly fits all the trends once again - especially with his rating now in that golden area of 139+. Finally, Panic Attack is another that fits the trends nicely after running in three chases this season and winning them all, with two coming over three miles. He's never run at the Festival before but is well-versed with Cheltenham, recording two wins from seven goes there.

2026 Ultima Handicap Chase Result

2026 Ultima Handicap Chase Odds

Cheltenham Festival 2026 Trends

Cheltenham Festival Day One Trends

• Supreme Novices' Hurdle Trends
• Arkle Novices' Hurdle Trends
• Ultima Handicap Chase Trends
• Cheltenham Mares' Hurdle Trends
• Cheltenham Champion Hurdle Trends
• Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle Trends
• National Hunt Novices' Chase Trends

Cheltenham Festival Day Two Trends

• Turner's Novices' Hurdle Trends
• Brown Advisory Novices' Chase Trends
• Coral Cup Trends
• Cheltenham Cross Country Chase Trends
• Cheltenham Champion Chase Trends
• Grand Annual Chase Trends
• Cheltenham Champion Bumper Trends

Cheltenham Festival Day Three Trends

• Cheltenham Mares' Novices' Hurdle Trends
• Jack Richards Novices' Limited Handicap Chase
• Pertemps Final Trends
• Ryanair Chase Trends
• Stayers' Hurdle Trends
• Cheltenham Festival Plate Handicap Trends
• Kim Muir Handicap Chase Trends

Cheltenham Festival Day Four Trends

• Triumph Hurdle Trends
• County Hurdle Trends
• Mares' Chase Trends
• Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle Trends
• Cheltenham Gold Cup Trends
• Cheltenham Foxhunter Chase Trends
• Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle Trends

About the Author

Mark Fordham

More About Mark

Mark spent over a decade as a sports reporter and editor with Goal.com and Bleacher Report. He is now a Content Editor at Bookies.com covering all manner of sports from the Premier League and cricket to the NBA and NFL, and is our resident EPL tipster. Mark also has years of experience working with all things online casino, and knows a good one from a bad one.

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