2025 Grand Annual Handicap Chase Tips, Odds and News
The penultimate race on day two of the Cheltenham Festival is the Grand Annual. This two-mile handicap is the most historic race at the entire Cheltenham Festival, having first been run back in 1834, and is named in honour of the great Johnny Henderson, former owner and father of top trainer, Nicky Henderson.
The Grand Annual was moved from day four to day two in 2021, to allow the new Mares' Chase to be run on Gold Cup day.
Grand Annual Handicap Key Facts
Date
Wednesday 11th March, 2026
Time
4:40pm
Course
Cheltenham Festival
Status
Grade Three Handicap
Distance
2m
Prize Pool
£110k
Age
5YO+
Grand Annual Handicap Odds
No odds are currently available for the Grand Annual.
Grand Annual Handicap Tips
Our guide to the Grand Annual handicap will be published when the entries and weights have been announced.
Grand Annual Handicap Result
Position
Name
SP
1st
Jazzy Matty
15/2
2nd
Unexpected Party
11/2f
3rd
Midnight It Is
25/1
4th
My Mate Mozzie
13/2
5th
Jasko Des Dames
22/1
Grand Annual Handicap Chase Day Card
Cheltenham Day 2 Card
Time
Wednesday Races
Status
Distance
13:20
Turners Novices' Hurdle
Grade One
2m 5f
14:00
Brown Advisory Novices' Chase
Grade One
3m
14:40
Coral Cup
Grade Three Handicap
2m 5f
15:20
Cross Country Chase
Class Two Handicap
3m 6f
16:00
Champion Chase
Grade One
2m
16:40
Grand Annual Chase
Grade Three Handicap
2m
17:20
Champion Bumper
Grade One
2m
Grand Annual History
The Grand Annual Handicap Chase is the oldest race at the Cheltenham Festival. It's also the oldest race currently still being run in National Hunt racing.
The Grand Annual was first held in 1834. It was first run at Cheltenham in 1913 and soon became an essential part of the Cheltenham Festival.
The name of Johnny Henderson was attached to the Grand Annual after his death in 2005. Johnny Henderson was a famous banker and racehorse owner. His son, Nicky Henderson saddled the winner of the Grand Annual the following season, with Greenhope handing the Henderson family an emotional victory.
Only two horses have managed to win the Grand Annual more than once. The first to achieve the double was Top Twenty, who won back-to-back renewals in 1958 and '59.
Dulwich also won the race for two Festivals in a row. His victories in 1974 and '76 were interrupted, though, as the 1975 renewal of the Grand Annual was abandoned due to a waterlogged track.
Graham Bradley guided Pearlyman to victory in the Grand Annual in 1986. Pearlyman would go on to score two victories in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Bradley went on to ride the winner on three other occasions and remains the most successful rider in Grand Annual history.
AP McCoy managed three winners of the Grand Annual. McCoy rode Edredon Bleu to victory for Henrietta Knight in 1998. Edredon Blue went on to win the Champion Chase in 2000, and the King George three years later.
Paul Nicholls is the winning-most trainer, with the last of his four victories coming with Le Prezien in 2018.
In 2019, Croco Bay became just the second 12-year-old to win the Grand Annual when he scored under Kielan Woods. Gordon Elliott won the Grand Annual for the first time in 2020, as Davy Russell guided the well-backed Chosen Mate to victory.
Despite drifting out to 14/1, Sky Pirate claimed victory in the 2021 Grand Annual.
