William Hill Trophy Handicap ChaseFrench horse Jakari ridden by Richard Johnson rides down the home straight during The William Hill Trophy Handicap steeple chase Class A Grade 3 race during the opening day of The Cheltenham Festival 15 March 2005. (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)

The William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase dates back to the 1950s and has a record of producing future Cheltenham Gold Cup winners with five race winners going on to win the Cheltenham Festival’s top race. The race is a Grade 3 national hunt steeplechase run on the Cheltenham Racecourse Old Course.

The William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase is open to horses aged 5 and over and is run over 3 miles and a ½ furlong. As a handicap event the race has a tendency to draw a large field and it is unusual for the pre-race favourite to win the race with only two favourites achieving this feat since 1969.

William Hill Trophy Betting & Trends

Weight: Winners of last five races weighted between 10st 2lbs and 10st 9lbs.
Age: Winner of last five races aged from 7 to 10 years of age. 7 year olds the dominant age group with 3 wins.
Odds: Winners of past five races priced between 5/1 and 50/1. Four of these priced between 5/1 and 8/1 with no wins by an antepost favourite.
Jockey: No jockey has won the race more than once in the past five years.
Trainer: While the William Hill Trophy has gone to a top stable for each of the past five races, no trainer has held onto the title.
William Hill Trophy Tip: Use the betting markets as a guide with each-way and place bets on entries priced 5/1 to 8/1. Lay the favourite at Betfair if you're willing to put up the liability.

William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase Winners

Like the other handicap events at the Cheltenham Festival, the William Hill Handicap Chase sees few racehorses win more than once. Only two horses have won the race twice; Sentina doing so in 1957 and 1958, with Scot Lane the last to do so in 1982 and 1983.

The William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase also seems to be a slippery title for jockeys, as only Robert Thornton has managed to hold the William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase winner’s title for two years in the last decade. Thornton achieved his wins on Fork Lightning and Kelami in 2004 and 2005.

In recent years Nicky Henderson has been the trainer to make the biggest impact on the William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase. Although no trainer has managed to train more than one William Hill Trophy Handicap chase winner in the last decade, Henderson has seen five entries finish placed during this period.

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