The Mares’ Chase is one of the newest races at the Festival, a Grade 2 event over about 2 miles 4 furlongs on the Wednesday. It was introduced in 2021 to give female chasers their own championship race. With only 5 renewals, the sample size is small, but some patterns have already formed.
Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Dinoblue | W P Mullins | M P Walsh | 8 | 5/2 |
| 2024 | Limerick Lace | Gavin Cromwell | K M Donoghue | 7 | 3/1 |
| 2023 | Impervious | C A Murphy | B Hayes | 7 | 11/4 |
| 2022 | Elimay | W P Mullins | M P Walsh | 8 | 13/4 |
| 2021 | Colreevy | W P Mullins | P Townend | 8 | 13/4 |
Key Trends
Age profile: Three winners have been eight-year-olds, two have been seven-year-olds. No other ages have won.
Favourite record: The favourite has won just 1 of 5 — Colreevy in the inaugural running. They’ve placed 4 of 5 times though, so the favourite is nearly always in the frame. The average favourite SP of around 5/2 shows these are often short-priced favourites that get run down.
Trainers: Mullins has won 3 of 5 from 14 runners (21%). Gavin Cromwell has 1 from 6. No British-trained horse has won.
Going: Three editions were on Good to Soft, 1 on Soft, 1 on Heavy. No Good ground renewal so far.
What the Data Says
Five editions is barely enough to draw any conclusions, so treat everything here with caution.
What we can say is that the race has been dominated by Irish-trained mares. All 5 winners have been trained in Ireland. Mullins has won 3 and placed his runners 6 times from 14 attempts — that’s nearly a 43% place rate, which is notable.
The winning SPs have ranged from 5/2 to 13/4. No winner has gone off bigger than 3/1, making this one of the most predictable races at the Festival in terms of price range. The quality mare at the right price tends to win.
Fields have averaged 9.2 runners — small by Festival standards — which partly explains the lack of big-priced winners. With fewer runners and a restricted field (mares only, chasers only), the form tends to be easier to assess.
The average winning OR of 152 is high, confirming this has attracted genuinely good mares rather than moderate ones. Dinoblue, Colreevy and Elimay were all top-class in their own right.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.