The Dublin Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. Run at Leopardstown over a distance of 2 miles and 1 furlong, there are eleven fences to be jumped in all.
The race is scheduled to take place each year in early February. The race was first run as a Grade 2 race in 2018 as part of the new Dublin Racing Festival and was upgraded to a Grade 1 contest from 2019.
One of the showpiece events of the new Irish Festival, the Dublin Chase now attracts some of the best two-mile horses in training, all bidding to stamp their authority on this racing division.
The contest is often used as a trial for the Queen Mother Champion Chase, which is run at the Cheltenham Festival in March, and even though it only came into fruition in 2018 it's already been won by some top class horses.
The result of this event often has a major bearing on the online betting market for the Champion Chase.
The Willie Mullins-trained Min won the inaugural running of the event then came back to land it all over again in 2019.
In 2020 Min’s stablemate Chacun Pour Soi was another impressive victor of the race and he too returned the following season to do exactly the same thing - lift the silverware for a second time.
In 2021 Chacun Pour Soi cemented his place at the head of the betting for the Queen Mother Champion Chase after winning this Dublin feature.
The complexion of the race changed in the middle of the race when his stablemate Min, the winner in 2018/19, made a sizeable error and was forced to pull up.
This left Chacun Pour Soi clear of his remaining rivals and he went on to beat the runner-up by eight lengths with the third horse a further seven lengths back.
Dublin Chase Winners
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2021 - Chacun Pour Soi 2/5f (Paul Townend/Willie Mullins)
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2020 - Chacun Pour Soi 6/5f (Paul Townend/Willie Mullins)
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2019 - Min 4/9f (Ruby Walsh/Willie Mullins)
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2018 - Min 11/8f (David Mullins/Willie Mullins)
Dublin Chase Statistics
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Most successful horse (2 wins): Min – 2018, 2019 & Chacun Pour Soi - 2020, 2021.
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Leading jockey (2 wins): Paul Townend - Chacun Pour Soi (2020, 2021).
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Leading trainer (4 wins): Willie Mullins - Min (2018, 2019), Chacun Pour Soi (2020, 2021).
Dublin Chase Trainers
As you can see from the results, Willie Mullins has dominated this race from the word go, winning it on all four occasions.
The most likely training candidates to break this Mullins monopoly are Gordon Elliott and Henry De Bromhead.
Dublin Chase Jockeys
Willie Mullins’ currently retained jockey Paul Townend gets to ride the cream of the crop for the Closutton Stable and thus far has ridden two Dublin Chase winners.
We dare say it won’t be long before Rachael Blackmore figures on this role of honour.
Dublin Chase Trial Races
There are no real “trial races” so to speak of but horses have tended to run in this and then at the Cheltenham Festival, so it is worth keeping a keen eye on them the following season.
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2018 - Min ran in the following Queen Mother Champion Chase (finished 2/9)
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2019 - Min ran in the following Queen Mother Champion Chase (finished 5/9)
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2020 - Chacun Pour Soi ran in the Hilly Way Chase (Cork) (finished 1/4)
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2021 - Chacun Pour Soi ran in the following Queen Mother Champion Chase (3/9)
Dublin Chase Starting Prices
Up to press you certainly won’t have got rich backing the winners of the Dublin Chase as all of them have been returned the favourite.
Odds of 11/8, 4/9, 6/5 and 2/5 have been the horse racing odds returned thus far, but in certain quarters some punters would be extremely happy with the odds-against of 11/8 and 6/5.
Dublin Chase Tips
Please check back here nearer the time for our 888Sport NAP of the day for the Dublin Chase.
