Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Christmas Meeting)

We look at the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase ahead of the next renewal, a race contested over 3m6f at Cheltenham during the Christmas Meeting to see which runners, trainers and jockeys have previously won the race and which trends you can use to find the winner of the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase.
Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Christmas Meeting)
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.

2024 Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Preview

Part of the Crystal Cup European Cross Country Challenge is the Cross Country Chase which takes place in December at Cheltenham during The two-day Christmas Meeting. The race is contested by horses aged five or older over a distance of just over three miles and six furlongs on the Cheltenham cross-country course, where a total of thirty-two obstacles are faced.

Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Information:

We also have a dedicated Cheltenham 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. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races at Cheltenham Racecourse section for links to these.

How competitive is the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2002 when the race had an over-round of 111%. The race in 2009 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 129%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase, the over-round has been 118%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £118 which is bet.

Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Trends:

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 Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase next time out then you would have backed a total of 3 winners. Backing all 19 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -10.43. Ahead of the 2024 Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase why not head over to the racing predictions for tips on other races today?

Over the last 20 renewals, it was the Jamie Snowden trained Fact Of The Matter ridden by Gavin Sheehan who set the fastest winning time in the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase, the runner won the race in a time of 8:09.40 was set when winning the race in 2018. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer J Halley and jockey Mr Josh Halley with Outlaw Pete who set the slowest winning time, the race-winning time was 9:16.53 in the 2012 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Fact Of The Matter (8:09.40) in 2018
  2. Cantlow (8:10.50) in 2016
  3. Garde Champetre (8:13.88) in 2011

Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Past Winners

Here are the Crystal Cup Cross Country 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 trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Race Notes: Abandoned in 2022 due to frozen ground.

YearHorseInfo
2023
8:29.07
Latenightpass (GB)
10yo 10-8 3/1F
Miss Gina Andrews
Dan Skelton (GB)
2021
8:24.62
Diesel DAllier (FR)
8yo 10-2 6/1
Harry Bannister
Richard J Bandey (GB)
2020
8:49.33
Some Neck (FR)
9yo 10-11 18/1
Mr B W Harvey (7lbs)
John C McConnell (IRE)
2019
9:04.00
Easysland (FR)
5yo 11-3 5/2F
Jonathan Plouganou
D Cottin (FR)
2018
8:09.40
Fact Of The Matter (IRE)
8yo 10-10 6/1
Gavin Sheehan
Jamie Snowden (GB)
2017
8:25.70
Bless The Wings (IRE)
12yo 11-2 12/1
Davy Russell
Gordon Elliott (IRE)
2016
8:10.50
Cantlow (IRE)
11yo 11-2 13/8F
Mark Walsh
E Bolger (IRE)
2015
8:14.00
Josies Orders (IRE)
7yo 11-8 11/4
Ms N Carberry
E Bolger (IRE)
2014
8:23.20
Any Currency (IRE)
11yo 11-0 8/1
Aidan Coleman
Martin Keighley (GB)
2013
8:17.90
Sire Collonges (FR)
7yo 11-10 7/1
Ryan Mahon
Paul Nicholls (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase have been based:

  • IRE: 11 winners with an additional 21 placings from 117 runners
  • GB: 5 winners with an additional 16 placings from 101 runners
  • FR: 4 winners with an additional 5 placings from 27 runners
  • CZE: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 3 runners

Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase over the last 20 renewals is E Bolger who has won the race seven times with those seven winners coming from Spot Thedifference (2004 & 2006), Garde Champetre (2008, 2009 & 2011), Josies Orders (2015) and Cantlow (2016).

Here are some of the top Crystal Cup Cross Country 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
E Bolger38-7-21-6.62+6.32
Gordon Elliott15-1-3-2.00-1.17
Paul Nicholls15-1-7-7.00-2.51
A J Martin6-1-1+0.00-1.87
Martin Keighley4-1-2+5.00+3.06
D Cottin3-1-2+0.50+1.31
Richard J Bandey2-1-1+5.00+2.75
John C McConnell1-1-1+18.00+10.80
Jamie Snowden1-1-1+6.00+3.60
J Halley1-1-1+3.50+2.10

Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Jockey Statistics

Here are some of the top Crystal Cup Cross Country 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
Mark Walsh6-1-4-3.37+0.14
Aidan Coleman4-1-1+5.00+2.00
Harry Bannister2-1-2+5.00+4.85
Mr B W Harvey1-1-1+18.00+10.80
Gavin Sheehan1-1-1+6.00+3.60
Miss Gina Andrews1-1-1+3.00+1.88
Jonathan Plouganou1-1-1+2.50+1.56
Mr P W Mullins5-0-0-5.00-5.00
James Reveley4-0-1-4.00-2.25
Sam Twiston-Davies4-0-1-4.00-2.80

Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +30.50 is when runners had 2 season starts. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners ran in a race restricted to 4yo+ last time out, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-47.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase is Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 13 winners of this race who ran at Cheltenham last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 20 winners from a total of 245 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 3 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase:

  • Garde Royale (3 Wins)
  • Lafontaine I (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase despite multiple attempts:

  • Presenting (0 Wins from 9 runners)
  • Be My Native (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Kings Theatre (0 Wins from 6 runners)
  • Saddlers Hall (0 Wins from 6 runners)
  • Network (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Some Neck in 2020, winning for John C McConnell at odds of 18/1 under the guidance of Mr B W Harvey. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 6 winning favourites in the race. Before placing your bet on the 2024 Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase head over to see which other runners today are being backed by the best racing tipsters today.

Other Principal races at Cheltenham racecourse

Here are some other notable races at the Cheltenham racecourse throughout the racing season that you may be interested in.

Races in January (Festival Trials Day)

Races in January

Races in March (Cheltenham Festival)

Races in April

Races in October

Races in November (November Meeting)

Races in December (Christmas Meeting)

Article Authors

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Crystal Cup Cross Country Chase Preview, Tips, Runners and Trends are at hand, Darren and James. 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.
James Banting

James Banting

Tipster Competition Assistant

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.

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