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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

DateWednesday 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

TimeWednesday RacesStatusDistance
13:20Turners Novices' HurdleGrade One2m 5f
14:00Brown Advisory Novices' ChaseGrade One3m
14:40Coral Cup
Grade Three Handicap
2m 5f
15:20Cross Country ChaseClass Two Handicap3m 6f
16:00Champion ChaseGrade One2m
16:40Grand Annual ChaseGrade Three Handicap2m
17:20Champion BumperGrade One2m

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.

Grand Annual Winners

Year
Winner
2025 Jazzy Matty
2024 Unexpected Party
2023 Maskada
2022 Global Citizen
2021 Sky Pirate
2020 Chosen Mate
2019 Croco Bay
2018 Le Prezien
2017 Rock The World
2016 Solar Impulse
2015 Next Sensation
2014 Savello
2013 Alderwood
2012 Bellvano
2011 Oiseau de Nuit
2010 Pigeon Island
2009 Oh Crick
2008 Tiger Cry
2007 Andreas
2006 Greenhope
2005 Fota Island
2004 St Pirran
2003 Palarshan
2002 Fadoudal du Cochet