Queen Mother Champion Chase
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The Queen Mother Champion Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt chase in the United Kingdom for five-year-old and above horses run over a distance of 2 miles (3,219 metres) at Cheltenham Racecourse during the Cheltenham Festival in March. There are twelve fences to be jumped in the race.
The race was first run in 1959 as the Champion Chase. The Queen Mother's name was added to the title in 1980, the year of her 80th birthday as a mark of appreciation to Her Majesty for her unwavering support for the annual festival.
The 2007 running was the first to be sponsored and was run under the title of the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase.
[edit] Trivia
- 1966 Flyingbolt is the shortest-priced winner of the race, with odds of 1/5.
- 1970 Straight Fort provided jockey Pat Taaffe with his fifth win and trainer Tom Dreaper with his sixth - the most successful jockey and trainer in the race.
- 1971 Crisp went on to finish second in the 1973 Grand National to Red Rum having led for almost the entire race.
- 1977 Skymas, aged 12, is the oldest horse to win the race.
- 1980 Another Dolly, who was awarded the race on the disqualification of Chinrullah, is the longest-priced winner at 33/1.
- 1985 Badsworth Boy became the first (and so far only) horse to win the race three times. Nine other horses have won the race twice (Royal Relief and Moscow Flyer both regained the championship).
- 1998 Brian Harding's winning ride on One Man subsequently won the Lester Award for "Jump Ride of the Year".
- 1999 The largest ever field for the race - 13 runners. The smallest field is 5 runners, on six occasions.
- 2007 Voy Por Ustedes, aged 6, equalled the record for the youngest winner in the race's history, set by Inkslinger in 1973.
[edit] Winners
- Amateur jockeys indicated by "Mr".
| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer |
| 1959 | Quita Que | 10 | Bunny Cox | Dan Moore |
| 1960 | Fortria | 8 | Pat Taaffe | Tom Dreaper |
| 1961 | Fortria | 9 | Pat Taaffe | Tom Dreaper |
| 1962 | Piperton | 8 | Dave Dick | Archie Thomlinson |
| 1963 | Sandy Abbot | 8 | Stan Mellor | George Owen |
| 1964 | Ben Stack | 7 | Pat Taaffe | Tom Dreaper |
| 1965 | Dunkirk | 8 | Peter Cazalet | Dave Dick |
| 1966 | Flyingbolt | 7 | Pat Taaffe | Tom Dreaper |
| 1967 | Drinny's Double | 9 | Frank Nash | Bob Turnell |
| 1968 | Drinny's Double | 10 | Frank Nash | Bob Turnell |
| 1969 | Muir | 10 | Ben Hannon | Tom Dreaper |
| 1970 | Straight Fort | 7 | Pat Taaffe | Tom Dreaper |
| 1971 | Crisp | 8 | Paul Kelleway | Fred Winter |
| 1972 | Royal Relief | 8 | Bill Smith | Edward Courage |
| 1973 | Inkslinger | 6 | Tommy Carberry | Dan Moore |
| 1974 | Royal Relief | 10 | Bill Smith | Edward Courage |
| 1975 | Lough Inagh | 8 | Sean Barker | Jim Dreaper |
| 1976 | Skymas | 11 | Mouse Morris | Brian Lusk |
| 1977 | Skymas | 12 | Mouse Morris | Brian Lusk |
| 1978 | Hilly Way | 8 | Tommy Carmody | Peter McCreery |
| 1979 | Hilly Way | 9 | Mr Ted Walsh | Peter McCreery |
| 1980 | Another Dolly * | 10 | Sam Morshead | Fred Rimell |
| 1981 | Drumgora | 9 | Frank Berry | Arthur Moore |
| 1982 | Rathgorman | 10 | Kevin Whyte | Michael Dickinson |
| 1983 | Badsworth Boy | 8 | Robert Earnshaw | Michael Dickinson |
| 1984 | Badsworth Boy | 9 | Robert Earnshaw | Michael Dickinson |
| 1985 | Badsworth Boy | 10 | Robert Earnshaw | Monica Dickinson |
| 1986 | Buck House | 8 | Tommy Carmody | Mouse Morris |
| 1987 | Pearlyman | 8 | Peter Scudamore | John Edwards |
| 1988 | Pearlyman | 9 | Tom Morgan | John Edwards |
| 1989 | Barnbrook Again | 8 | Simon Sherwood | David Elsworth |
| 1990 | Barnbrook Again | 9 | Hywel Davies | David Elsworth |
| 1991 | Katabatic | 8 | Simon McNeill | Andrew Turnell |
| 1992 | Remittance Man | 8 | Jamie Osborne | Nicky Henderson |
| 1993 | Deep Sensation | 8 | Declan Murphy | Josh Gifford |
| 1994 | Viking Flagship | 7 | Adrian Maguire | David Nicholson |
| 1995 | Viking Flagship | 8 | Charlie Swan | David Nicholson |
| 1996 | Klairon Davis | 7 | Francis Woods | Arthur Moore |
| 1997 | Martha's Son | 10 | Rodney Farrant | Tim Forster |
| 1998 | One Man | 10 | Brian Harding | Gordon W. Richards |
| 1999 | Call Equiname | 9 | Mick Fitzgerald | Paul Nicholls |
| 2000 | Edredon Bleu | 8 | Tony McCoy | Henrietta Knight |
| 2001 race cancelled because of foot and mouth crisis | ||||
| 2002 | Flagship Uberalles | 8 | Richard Johnson | Philip Hobbs |
| 2003 | Moscow Flyer | 9 | Barry Geraghty | Jessica Harrington |
| 2004 | Azertyuiop | 7 | Ruby Walsh | Paul Nicholls |
| 2005 | Moscow Flyer | 11 | Barry Geraghty | Jessica Harrington |
| 2006 | Newmill | 8 | Andrew McNamara | John Joseph Murphy |
| 2007 | Voy Por Ustedes | 6 | Robert Thornton | Alan King |
* Chinrullah finished first in 1980 but was subsequently disqualified after testing positive for a banned substance.
