The Ryanair Chase is a Grade 1 race over about 2 miles 5 furlongs on the Thursday of the Festival. It sits between the Champion Chase and the Gold Cup in terms of distance and tends to attract high-class chasers who are either too slow for two miles or lack the stamina for the Gold Cup trip.
Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Fact To File | W P Mullins | M P Walsh | 8 | 6/4 |
| 2024 | Protektorat | Dan Skelton | H Skelton | 9 | 19/2 |
| 2023 | Envoi Allen | Henry de Bromhead | R Blackmore | 9 | 13/2 |
| 2022 | Allaho | W P Mullins | P Townend | 8 | 4/7 |
| 2021 | Allaho | W P Mullins | R Blackmore | 7 | 3/1 |
| 2020 | Min | W P Mullins | P Townend | 9 | 2/1 |
| 2019 | Frodon | P F Nicholls | B Frost | 7 | 9/2 |
| 2018 | Balko Des Flos | Henry de Bromhead | D N Russell | 7 | 8/1 |
| 2017 | Un De Sceaux | W P Mullins | R Walsh | 9 | 11/4 |
| 2016 | Vautour | W P Mullins | R Walsh | 7 | Evs |
Key Trends
Age profile: Seven-year-olds lead with 6 wins, followed by eight and nine-year-olds with 5 each. Three ten-year-olds have won (Albertas Run twice and Fondmort). Taranis at 6 is the youngest winner. The race suits experienced chasers rather than novice types.
Favourite record: The favourite has won 8 of 21 total favourite runners (38%), with 17 placing — a very strong place record. The average favourite SP is about 2/1. Even when the favourite is beaten, they usually finish in the frame.
Trainers: Mullins dominates with 6 wins from 28 runners (21%). De Bromhead has 2 from 14, Henderson 2 from 20, Nicholls 2 from 23, and David Pipe 2 from 7. Jonjo O’Neill had 2 wins courtesy of Albertas Run’s double in 2010-11.
Going: Eight editions on Good to Soft, 7 on Good, 5 on Soft. No Heavy running in the Ryanair so far. Winners have come on all three ground types without any notable bias.
What the Data Says
Mullins has made this race his own in recent years — Vautour, Un De Sceaux, Min, Allaho (twice) and Fact To File account for 6 of the last 10 winners. That’s a level of dominance unusual even by his standards. His runners in this race should always be on your shortlist.
The average winning SP of about 5/1 and average OR of 163 show this is a high-quality race where class tends to tell. The biggest-priced winner is Uxizandre at 16/1 in 2015, AP McCoy’s final Festival winner, and that remains something of an outlier.
Allaho’s back-to-back wins in 2021-22 and Albertas Run’s in 2010-11 show the Ryanair can be a race where the best horse comes back and wins again. If a previous winner re-appears, they deserve respect.
The favourite’s place record of 17 from 21 (81%) is arguably the most useful trend here. Even if you don’t want to back the favourite to win, they’re almost always involved at the business end.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.