Festival Trophy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Festival Trophy is a Grade 2 National Hunt chase in the United Kingdom for five-year-old and above horses run over a distance of 2 miles 5 furlongs (4,225 metres) on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse during the Cheltenham Festival in March. There are seventeen fences to be jumped in the race.

It was first run in 2005 as a new race when the Cheltenham Festival was increased from a three-day to a four-day meeting. The Cathcart Chase, which was run over the same distance and restricted to novices and second-season steeplechasers, was discontinued and effectively replaced by two separate races; the Festival Trophy open to all chasers and a novices’ handicap chase also run over 2 miles 5 furlongs.

The race was run as the Daily Telegraph Festival Trophy Chase in 2005 and the Ryanair Chase in 2006.