The Cotswold Chase takes place over a trip of 3m1f 156 yards and is held on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse.
Open to chasers aged five years and older, the race requires 21 fences to be jumped in all and is the ideal test for potential Gold Cup candidates each year.
First run in 1980, the race takes its officially registered name from the surrounding geographical area.
It has of course featured the name of various sponsors in its title over the years, with the Tote, Timeform, Bibendum and Betbright all having stumped up the prize money in the past.
Even though the race is touted as being one of the season’s big trials for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the race has only given us March’s winner on four occasions.
Little Owl (1981), Master Oats (1995), See More Business (1998) and Looks Like Trouble (2000) are the esteemed quartet that achieved the famous double.
The roll of honour for the Cotswold Chase is an excellent one in general with a whole host of top horses claiming top honours down the years.
One Man, See More Business, and Neptune Collonges are just a few of the names to have won the race but the favourite for many fans in recent years has be Many Clouds.
The Oliver Sherwood trained horse won the race twice - in 2015 and 2017, and in 2015 he went to Aintree to claim the Grand National.
Cotswold Chase Winners
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2021* - Native River 13/2 (Richard Johnson/Colin Tizzard)
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2020 - Santini 13/8 (Nico De Boinville/Nicky Henderson)
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2019 - Frodon 9/4 (Bryony Frost/Paul Nicholls)
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2018 - Definitly Red 7/1 (Danny Cook/Brian Ellison)
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2017 - Many Clouds 8/1 (Leighton Aspell/Oliver Sherwood)
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2016 - Smad Place 9/2 (Richard Johnson/Alan King)
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2015 - Many Clouds 4/1 (Leighton Aspell/Oliver Sherwood)
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2014 - The Giant Bolster 6/1 (Tom Scudamore/David Bridgwater)
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2013 - Cape Tribulation 7/1 (Denis O'Regan/Malcolm Jefferson)
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2012 - Midnight Chase 11/2 (Dougie Costello/Niall Mulholland)
*2021 race was run at Sandown*
Cotswold Chase Statistics
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Age: 8 of the last 10 winners were aged 9 or older.
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Price: Just 1 of the last 10 favourites have won, 5/10 winners came from the top three in the horse racing betting.
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Last Run: 6 of the last 10 winners won on their last run before the Cotswold Chase, 9/10 winners ran within the last 56 days.
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Previous Course Form: 10/10 winners had at least two previous runs at Cheltenham, 8/10 winners had at least one previous win at Cheltenham.
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Previous Distance Form: 10/10 winners had at least five previous runs over 24+ furlongs, 10/10 had at least one previous win over 24+ furlongs.
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Previous Chase Form: 10/10 winners had at least eight previous chase runs, 9/10 winners had at least eleven previous chase runs, 10/10 winners had at least two previous chase wins, 10/10 winners had at least three previous chase wins.
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Rating: 9/10 winners were rated 153 or higher.
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Graded Wins: 10/10 winners had at least one previous win in a Grade 1-3 race.
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Season Form: 8/10 winners had at least two runs that season, 7/10 winners had at least one win that season.
Cotswold Chase Trainers
Paul Nicholls has won the Cotswold Chase on five occasions. The Ditcheat handler has won the race with See More Business (1998, 2001), Taranis (2010), Neptune Collonges (2011) and Frodon (2019).
It was an amazing forty years between buses for Nicky Henderson’s two wins in this race.
Having won the very first Cotswold Chase in 1980, it took until 2020 until the Seven Barrows maestro added to his tally when Santini lifted the silverware.
Cotswold Chase Jockeys
This Trials Day contest was very kind to the legend that was AP McCoy and Cyfor Malta (1999), Exotic Dancer (2007) and Neptune Collonges (2011) gave the Northern Irishman a hat-trick of victories.
Current jockeys to score in the last ten years include Nick Scholfield, Tom Scudamore, Bryony Frost and Nico De Boinville.
Cotswold Chase 'Trial' Races
The road to the Cheltenham Gold Cup often sees a number of contenders have their final run before the Festival on Trials Day.
The Cotswold Chase tests whether horses are Gold Cup horses or not with a recent example being Frodon in 2019 who went to the Ryanair Chase rather than the Gold Cup.
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Next Run: 1 of the last 10 winners won on their next run after the Cotswold Chase, 2/10 placed on their next run.
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Rest of The Season: 10/10 winners ran in at least one more race that season.
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2/10 won at least one more race that season, 3/10 placed in at least one more race that season.
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Cheltenham Festival: 9/10 winners ran in the Gold Cup at the next Cheltenham Festival, 0 of the 9 won, 2 placed.
Starting Prices
The Cotswold Chase has been a graveyard for sport bets favourites since the turn of the millennium with only the Nicky Henderson-trained Santini obliging at odds of 13/8 in recent times.
Nothing at too big a price has upset the applecart with Many Clouds at 8/1 being the biggest returned price in the last 10 years.
Effectively it pays as a punter to concentrate on the first three or four runners in the betting for the Cotswold Chase.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 1st February 2022
