Royal & SunAlliance Chase
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal & SunAlliance Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt chase in the United Kingdom for five-year-old and above novices run over a distance of 3 miles 110 yards (4,929 metres)on the Old Course at Cheltenham Racecourse during the Cheltenham Festival in March. There are nineteen fences to be jumped in the race.
The race takes its name from its sponsors, the insurance company Royal & SunAlliance. The sponsorship dates back to 1974 - prior to the merger of Royal Insurance and Sun Alliance in 1996, the race was known as the Sun Alliance Chase. The only previous sponsor of the race was The Tote (the Totalisator Champion Novice Chase, 1964-1973), before which the race was called the Broadway Novices' Chase.
[edit] Trivia
- Arkle, Ten Up, Master Smudge, Garrison Savannah, and Looks Like Trouble have all gone on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Master Smudge won the Gold Cup after Tied Cottage (winner of the 1976 SunAlliance Chase) passed the post first but was disqualified for failing a drug test.
- Winners to be placed in a Cheltenham Gold Cup include Spanish Steps, Tied Cottage, Brown Chamberlain, Young Hustler and Florida Pearl. Mr Mulligan came second in the 1996 SunAlliance Chase before winning the next year's Gold Cup.
- Miinnehoma was owned by Freddie Starr and won the 1994 Grand National.
[edit] Winners
- Amateur jockeys indicated by "Mr".
| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer |
| 1946 | Birthlaw | 11 | Ted Vinall | Tommy Rayson |
| 1947 race cancelled because of snow and frost | ||||
| 1948 | I. Blakely Grove | 7 | Joe Maguire | Ivor Anthony |
| II. Mountain Prince | 9 | Bryan Marshall | Fulke Walwyn | |
| 1949 | I. Glen Fire | 6 | Mr J Spencer | Syd Mercer |
| II. Comeragh | 8 | D Kelly | Noel Furlong | |
| 1950 | I. Manicou | 5 | Lord Mildmay | Peter Cazalet |
| II. Arctic Gold | 5 | Glen Kelly | Gerald Balding | |
| 1951 | On View | 8 | Bryan Marshall | Fulke Walwyn |
| 1952 | Good and Plenty | 8 | Jimmy Power | Jack Fawcus |
| 1953 | Coneyburrow | 7 | Pat Taaffe | Joe Osbourne |
| 1954 | Glenbeigh | 8 | Dave Dick | Fulke Walwyn |
| 1955 | Great Eliza | 7 | B Cooper | Danny Morgan |
| 1956 | Polar Flight | 6 | Tommy Cusack | George Spann |
| 1957 | Mandarin | 6 | Michael Scudamore | Fulke Walwyn |
| 1958 | Just Awake | 6 | Arthur Freeman | Peter Cazalet |
| 1959 | Mac Joy | 7 | Arthur Freeman | Ken Bailey |
| 1960 | Solfen | 8 | Pat Taaffe | Willie O'Grady |
| 1961 | Grallagh Cnoc | 7 | Pat Taaffe | Joe Osbourne |
| 1962 | Caduval | 7 | Laurie Morgan | Bogden Lubecki |
| 1963 | Arkle | 6 | Pat Taaffe | Tom Dreaper |
| 1964 | Buona Notte | 7 | Johnnie Haine | Bob Turnell |
| 1965 | Arkloin | 6 | Liam McLoughlin | Tom Dreaper |
| 1966 | Different Class | 6 | David Mould | Peter Cazalet |
| 1967 | Border Jet | 7 | Josh Gifford | Ryan Price |
| 1968 | Herring Gull | 6 | Joe Crowley | Paddy Mullins |
| 1969 | Spanish Steps | 6 | John Cook | Edward Courage |
| 1970 | Proud Tarquin | 7 | Pat Taaffe | Tom Dreaper |
| 1971 | Tantalum | 7 | David Nicholson | Michael Pope |
| 1972 | Clever Scot | 7 | David Mould | Tom Jones |
| 1973 | Killiney | 7 | Richard Pitman | Fred Winter |
| 1974 | Ten Up | 7 | Tommy Carberry | Jim Dreaper |
| 1975 | Pengrail | 7 | John Francome | Fred Winter |
| 1976 | Tied Cottage | 8 | Tommy Carberry | Dan Moore |
| 1977 | Gay Spartan | 6 | Michael Dickinson | Tony Dickinson |
| 1978 | Sweet Joe | 6 | Steve Smith Eccles | Tom Jones |
| 1979 | Master Smudge | 7 | Richard Hoare | Arthur Barrow |
| 1980 | Lacson | 8 | Steve Knight | Bob Hawker |
| 1981 | Lesley Ann | 7 | Colin Brown | David Elsworth |
| 1982 | Brown Chamberlin | 7 | John Francome | Fred Winter |
| 1983 | Canny Danny | 7 | Niall Madden | Jimmy FitzGerald |
| 1984 | A Kinsman | 8 | Geordie Dun | John Brockbank |
| 1985 | Antarctic Bay | 9 | Frank Berry | Pat Hughes |
| 1986 | Cross Master | 9 | Reg Crank | Tom Bill |
| 1987 | Kildimo | 7 | Graham Bradley | Toby Balding |
| 1988 | The West Awake | 7 | Simon Sherwood | Oliver Sherwood |
| 1989 | Envopak Token | 8 | Peter Hobbs | Josh Gifford |
| 1990 | Garrison Savannah | 7 | Ben de Haan | Jenny Pitman |
| 1991 | Rolling Ball | 8 | Peter Scudamore | Martin Pipe |
| 1992 | Miinnehoma | 9 | Peter Scudamore | Martin Pipe |
| 1993 | Young Hustler | 6 | Peter Scudamore | Nigel Twiston-Davies |
| 1994 | Monsieur Le Cure | 8 | Peter Niven | John Edwards |
| 1995 | Brief Gale | 8 | Philip Hide | Josh Gifford |
| 1996 | Nahthen Lad | 7 | Warren Marston | Jenny Pitman |
| 1997 | Hanakham | 8 | Richard Dunwoody | Ron Hodges |
| 1998 | Florida Pearl | 6 | Richard Dunwoody | Willie Mullins |
| 1999 | Looks Like Trouble | 7 | Paul Carberry | Noel Chance |
| 2000 | Lord Noelie | 7 | Jim Culloty | Henrietta Knight |
| 2001 race cancelled because of foot and mouth crisis | ||||
| 2002 | Hussard Collonges | 7 | Russ Garritty | Peter Beaumont |
| 2003 | One Knight | 7 | Richard Johnson | Philip Hobbs |
| 2004 | Rule Supreme | 8 | David Casey | Willie Mullins |
| 2005 | Trabolgan | 7 | Mick Fitzgerald | Nicky Henderson |
| 2006 | Star de Mohaison | 5 | Barry Geraghty | Paul Nicholls |
| 2007 | Denman | 7 | Ruby Walsh | Paul Nicholls |
