Cross Country Chase betting with William Hill

The Cross Country Chase is a unique 3m6f contest for five-year-olds and up, which takes place on the Cross Country Course on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival.

Established when a fourth day was added to the Festival in 2005, the Cross Country Chase has become one of the great spectacles in the National Hunt season, with the field negotiating their way over 32 obstacles.

Originally staged as a handicap, the Cross Country Chase is now run as a conditions event and is one of three Cross Country Chases staged at Prestbury Park through the National Hunt season.

It’s a race that has become hugely popular with Irish-trained runners and the roll call of winners is dominated by runners who have travelled over the Irish Sea. Runners from the Emerald Isle cannot be ignored when assessing William Hill’s Cross Country Chase betting.

Cross Country Chase betting tips

The Cross Country Chase is won by a horse that loves jumping. They need to be nimble, agile and confident in order to negotiate the range of hedges, ditches and banks that this unique test throws their way.

Given the unique nature of the Cross Country course, it’s perhaps no surprise that course specialists dominate - A New Story ran in the race on six consecutive occasions, winning it in 2010.

Previous experience of the course is an essential factor to bear in mind when working your way through Cross Country Chase betting odds.

Certain trainers target this race, such as Enda Bolger who dominated it in the early years. Josies Orders won the race for him in 2016 and has been placed again since.

One of the key trials is the P.P Hogan Memorial Cross Country Chase at Punchestown in February. That contest has become a rich source of Cheltenham Festival winners and was won by the likes of Josies Orders and Garde Champetre en route to Cheltenham. Always keep the winner of that race on side when evaluating Cross Country Chase betting.

Cross Country Chase betting trends

The key trend for the Cross Country Chase is previous course experience. The race is nearly always won by a horse that has run around the course before. Having said that, previous winners don’t have a particularly great record.

It’s a race for experienced horses and those aged between eight and 10 have dominated since the turn of the decade. Several of its winners had landed one or both of Cheltenham’s other two Cross Country races en route to the Cheltenham Festival.

Stamina is also key. Horses need to stay the trip well and nearly all the winners have won a chase over at least 3m.

The quality of Cross Country races has gone up in recent years and they are now often won by a horse, like Tiger Roll, who is a proven high-class handicapper. That means horses rated lower than 130 tend to struggle, especially now they don’t get any weight off higher-rated rivals.

Having said that, big-priced winners do pop up. Rivage D’Or, Big Shu and A New Story have all defied double-figure odds in this unique contest since 2010.

Cross Country Chase ante-post betting pointers

Because the quality of the Cross Country Chase has risen so much, winners of the race can often now go on to challenge for major races like the Grand National at Aintree or the Irish Grand National.

Tiger Roll completed the Cross Country Chase and Grand National double in 2018 before repeating the feat in 2019, in even more facile fashion than the previous year.

However, some horses just love the unique nature of Cross Country races and they will only have those races pencilled in as targets.

There are Cross Country races staged at Cheltenham in November and December which often serve as trials for the Cheltenham Festival event. Any horse that wins one or both of those trials deserves serious consideration when assessing William Hill’s Cross Country Chase betting.

Cross Country Chase history and memorable winners

Tiger Roll became the third horse to win the Cross Country Chase for a second time when strolling to a quite stunning 22-length success in 2019.

It confirmed legendary status, if it hadn’t been already, for a horse who won at four Cheltenham Festivals between 2014 and 2019, not to mention a pair of Grand Nationals. Tiger Roll’s second Cross Country Chase victory was one of the most dominant displays ever seen in this race.

It also provided trainer Gordon Elliott with a third successive Cross Country Chase win, but it was his runner-up in the 2007 renewal, Silver Birch, that arguably put Elliott on the training map by winning the Grand National the following month.

Enda Bolger dominated the contest in its formative years, winning four of the first five editions of the 3m6f contest. Bolger and top owner JP McManus have always been a team to fear in this race - they won it again in 2016 with Josies Orders, and runners from that trainer/owner combination have to be kept onside when assessing Cross Country Chase betting.

Philip Hobbs was the only English trainer to win the race in the first 15 years of its existence but in Balthazar King, Hobbs had in his yard a horse who relished the unique challenge of the Cross Country obstacles. Balthazar King won the race twice, on both occasions partnered by Richard Johnson, in 2012 and 2014.

Cross Country Chase betting 2021

Given this race has such a strong history of going to horses that have run in the race before, there is only really one starting point for the 2021 edition and that is with Tiger Roll, who will be attempting to become the first horse to win the race three times if connections decide to come back again.

Tiger Roll will be 10 years of age by that stage but that shouldn’t stop him, given that both Balthazar King and Rivage D’Or have won the race at that age in recent years.

Given the dominance of Tiger Roll’s 2019 success, it’s difficult to see any of the vanquished horses turning the form around, not least because the next four home were all aged 11 or 12 and will surely be too old to win the race in the future.

If Gordon Elliott’s star does make it to the race, he is very likely to go off an extremely short price in William Hill’s Cross Country Chase betting.

One horse that could fare much better in 2021 is Fact Of The Matter, who trailed in down the field behind Tiger Roll, but he is a horse who ideally needs a sound surface and conditions turned against him last time.

He has won around Cheltenham’s Cross Country course and still has some time on his side as a nine-year-old. He would have to be a player if getting his ground in 2022 so needs close attention in any Cross Country Chase betting.