Classic Chase Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

Explore the Classic Chase at Warwick, a thrilling 3m5f Premier Handicap steeplechase. Uncover key trends, past winners, and insights into this prestigious National Hunt event featuring top horses aged five and older, with 22 challenging fences to navigate.
Classic Chase Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2026 Classic Chase Preview

The Classic Chase is scheduled to take place in January of each year at the Warwick Racecourse, the race was originally known as the Warwickshire Gold Cup and is a race in which plenty of the runners will go on to compete in the Aintree Grand National, One For Arthur who won this race in 2017 went on to win the Grand National.

The race is a Premier Handicap chase which is open to runners who are aged five or older, the race is run over a distance of three miles, five furlongs and fifty-four years in which a total of twenty-two fences will have to be jumped, because of the time of the year, this is a demanding race and you certainly need a runner with plenty of stamina.

Classic Chase Information:

We also have a dedicated Warwick tips page that will cover this race as well as all of the other races on the day of the race, see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are predicting to win this race and the others on the cards.

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How competitive is the Classic Chase market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2016 when the race had an over-round of 117%. The race in 2017 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 128%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Classic Chase, the over-round has been 120%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £120 which is bet.

Below you will find the 2026 Classic Chase Trends, see which patterns have occurred over the recent renewals that you may be able to use for the next renewal, we also have a section that looks at the Classic Chase Trend Analysis.

These are the top three quickest-run Classic Chase over the last 20 renewals:

  1. The Last Fling (6:48.40) in 2002
  2. Impulsive Star (7:16.10) in 2019
  3. Southern Star (7:16.20) in 2004

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Classic Chase next time out then you would have backed a total of 1 winner. Backing all 20 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -5.00. Remember to bookmark the racing tips page to access the OLBG racing picks easily daily.

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 6:48.40 was set by The Last Fling in 2002, which is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by Sue Smith and ridden by Warren Marston. The slowest winning time was set in 2016 when Russe Blanc won in a time of 8:03.10, booked to ride was Charlie Poste by the trainer Kerry Lee.

What the expert says...
Four winners of this race came after running in the Welsh National. Hey Big Spender (2012), Hawkes Point (2015), Milansbar (2018) and Iwilldoit (2023). Iwilldoit was the only one to do the double, Val Dancer won the Welsh National in 2024.

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Classic Chase Past Winners

Here are the Classic Chase past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Classic Chase are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

Race Notes: The 2009, 2010 & 2025 renewals were abandoned due to frost and snow.

YearHorseInfo
2024
7:45.80
My Silver Lining (IRE)
8yo 10-4 17/2
James Best
Emma Lavelle (GB)
2023
7:55.60
Iwilldoit (GB)
10yo 11-10 12/1
Stan Sheppard
Sam Thomas (GB)
2022
7:40.56
Eclair Surf (FR)
8yo 11-3 11/1
Tom Bellamy
Emma Lavelle (GB)
2021
7:44.20
Notachance (IRE)
7yo 10-5 7/2F
Tom Cannon
Alan King (GB)
2020
7:43.20
Kimberlite Candy (IRE)
8yo 11-4 9/2
Richie McLernon
Tom Lacey (GB)
2019
7:16.10
Impulsive Star (IRE)
9yo 9-12 8/1
Mr Sam Waley-Cohen (3lbs)
Neil Mulholland (GB)
2018
7:40.90
Milansbar (IRE)
11yo 11-2 12/1
Bryony Frost (5lbs)
Neil King (GB)
2017
7:47.40
One For Arthur (IRE)
8yo 10-11 14/1
Derek Fox
Lucinda Russell (GB)
2016
8:03.10
Russe Blanc (FR)
9yo 10-7 20/1
Charlie Poste
Kerry Lee (GB)
2015
8:02.00
Hawkes Point (GB)
10yo 10-12 15/2
Sam Twiston-Davies
Paul Nicholls (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Classic Chase have been based:

  • GB: 20 winners with an additional 38 placings from 266 runners
  • IRE: 0 winners with an additional 3 placings from 5 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 5 runners

Classic Chase Trainer Statistics

There are multiple leading trainers in the Classic Chase over the last 20 renewals with Alan King, Paul Nicholls and Emma Lavelle having all won the race three times. Alan King winners have been with DArgent (2008), West End Rocker (2011) and Notachance (2021). Paul Nicholls winners have been with Eurotrek (2006), Ladalko (2007) and Hawkes Point (2015). Emma Lavelle winners have been with Shotgun Paddy (2014), Eclair Surf (2022) and My Silver Lining (2024). There is one trainer who has not had the best of times in the Classic Chase, David Pipe has sent a total of 10 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top Classic Chase trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
Alan King16-3-7+18.50+12.83
Paul Nicholls16-3-4+5.00+0.50
Emma Lavelle7-3-5+24.50+16.51
Nigel Twiston-Davies25-1-5-13.00-8.49
Venetia Williams20-1-5-14.00-9.62
Kerry Lee8-1-2+13.00+9.13
Sue Smith4-1-1+22.00+12.63
Neil Mulholland4-1-2+5.00+6.63
Lucinda Russell3-1-1+12.00+6.75
Neil King3-1-1+10.00+5.50

Classic Chase Jockey Statistics

Here are some of the top Classic Chase jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Sam Twiston-Davies10-1-1-1.50-4.31
Robert Dunne9-1-1-3.00-4.87
Tom Bellamy5-1-2+7.00+4.32
Tom Cannon5-1-2-0.50-0.37
Richie McLernon4-1-3+1.50+6.44
Derek Fox2-1-1+13.00+7.75
Bryony Frost2-1-1+11.00+6.50
James Best2-1-1+7.50+4.31
Stan Sheppard1-1-1+12.00+7.50
Harry Skelton8-0-4-8.00+0.14

Classic Chase Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor which produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +34.50 is when runners had the same jockey as when last winning.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 2 career places in Handicap, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-33.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Classic Chase is Chepstow, there has been a total number of 5 winners of this race who ran at Chepstow last time out. The next best courses which have produced the second most winners are Newbury and Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 3 winners from each of those courses.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 19 winners from a total of 259 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 17 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Classic Chase, that stallion Milan has produced 2 winners (2018,2017).

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Classic Chase despite multiple attempts:

  • Kings Theatre (0 Wins from 10 runners)
  • Midnight Legend (0 Wins from 9 runners)
  • Dom Alco (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Old Vic (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Presenting (0 Wins from 7 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was The Last Fling in 2002, winning for Sue Smith at odds of 25/1 under the guidance of Warren Marston. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 2 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find you a bet on the 2026 Classic Chase.

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Classic Chase Preview are at hand, Andy and Darren. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for National Hunt Racing.

Darren Brett

Darren Brett

Tipster Competition Manager

Darren has worked in the horse racing industry for decades bringing to OLBG for the last 20 years a wealth of knowledge, creating much of our content on these sports. Darren also manages our Grand National Guide and is the go-to font of knowledge for the world's greatest steeplechase.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for jump racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful national hunt racing blogs for OLBG.

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