Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Cheltenham Festival)

Uncover the secrets of this competitive 2-mile handicap chase. Analyze trends of past winners, examine key statistics, and gain insights into the Festival's fastest chase that often produces thrilling finishes on the final day.
Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Cheltenham Festival)
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.

2025 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Preview

A handicap chase over two miles, one hundred and ten yards with fourteen fences to negotiate on the new course at Cheltenham.

The Grand Annual Chase is the oldest race at the festival with the inaugural event taking place in 1834 and in 2021 moved to a new Wednesday slot having been moved from the Friday to make way for the Mares Chase.

Gain an edge on the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual by examining our detailed insights into previous race trends and trainer statistics, then check out our list of free bets for Cheltenham.

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Information:

To see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are tipping throughout the card that includes this race, head over to the Cheltenham tips on the day of the race, do they agree with the runners on the trend shortlist or are they predicting other runners? We cover every race at the Cheltenham Festival and below you can find links to all of the races for each of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday.

Best Horse Racing Betting Sites 2025
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How competitive is the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2005 when the race had an over-round of 126%. The race in 2017 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 136%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual, the over-round has been 131%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £131 which is bet.

Below you will find the 2025 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual 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 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Trend Analysis.

These are the top three quickest-run Johnny Henderson Grand Annual over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Oiseau De Nuit (3:52.80) in 2011
  2. Sky Pirate (3:55.44) in 2021
  3. Greenhope (3:55.90) in 2006

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 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 20 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -7.67. Remember to bookmark the racing tips page to access the OLBG racing picks easily daily.

The runner that holds the record over the past 20 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2018 renewal when Le Prezien from Paul Nicholls under the guidance of Barry Geraghty, won in a time of 4:21.80, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Oiseau De Nuit, trained by Colin Tizzard and ridden by Mr S Clements set the quickest time of 3:52.80 in the 2011 renewal.

What the expert says...
The Red Rum Handicap Chase at Aintree seems to be the destination of a lot of the winners of this, eight of them have gone there since 2005, however, only two of those have won that race, in fact, this race has not produced a next time out winner since 2009!

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Grand Annual NRNB 12 Mar @ 16:40 - AntePost
Libberty Hunter 9.00
Touch Me Not 11.00
Unexpected Party 11.00
Jazzy Matty 11.00
Madara 12.00

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Past Winners

Here are the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual 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 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorseInfo
2024
4:12.76
Unexpected Party (FR)
9yo 10-10 12/1
Harry Skelton
Dan Skelton (GB)
2023
4:03.00
Maskada (FR)
7yo 11-1 22/1
Darragh O'Keeffe
Henry De Bromhead (IRE)
2022
4:12.98
Global Citizen (IRE)
10yo 10-6 28/1
Kielan Woods
Ben Pauling (GB)
2021
3:55.44
Sky Pirate (GB)
8yo 11-6 14/1
Nick Scholfield
Jonjo O'Neill (GB)
2020
4:07.90
Chosen Mate (IRE)
7yo 11-4 7/2F
Davy Russell
Gordon Elliott (IRE)
2019
4:05.29
Croco Bay (IRE)
12yo 10-12 66/1
Kielan Woods
Ben Case (GB)
2018
4:21.80
Le Prezien (FR)
7yo 11-8 15/2
Barry Geraghty
Paul Nicholls (GB)
2017
4:01.40
Rock The World (IRE)
9yo 11-5 10/1
Robbie Power
Mrs John Harrington (IRE)
2016
3:59.20
Solar Impulse (FR)
6yo 11-0 28/1
Sam Twiston-Davies
Paul Nicholls (GB)
2015
4:09.50
Next Sensation (IRE)
8yo 11-2 16/1
Tom Scudamore
Michael Scudamore (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual have been based:

  • GB: 13 winners with an additional 44 placings from 316 runners
  • IRE: 7 winners with an additional 15 placings from 89 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 6 runners

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual over the last 20 renewals is Paul Nicholls who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Andreas (2007), Solar Impulse (2016) and Le Prezien (2018). The only other trainer to have recorded multiple wins in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual is Nicky Henderson (2 wins). Multiple trainers have not had the best of times over the last 20 renewals in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual, Venetia Williams (0-19), Philip Hobbs (0-12) and David Pipe (0-11) have all failed to produce a single winner despite sending multiple runners to the race.

Here are some of the top Johnny Henderson Grand Annual 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
Paul Nicholls34-3-6+16.50+3.07
Nicky Henderson39-2-12+3.00+9.01
Dan Skelton14-1-3-1.00-0.37
Alan King14-1-3-6.00-3.12
Henry De Bromhead13-1-1+10.00+1.75
Jonjo O'Neill13-1-3+2.00+0.25
Nigel Twiston-Davies10-1-2+7.00+5.63
Gordon Elliott9-1-4-4.50-2.58
Mrs John Harrington8-1-2+3.00+0.31
A L T Moore6-1-4+2.50+3.75

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual over the last 20 renewals is Kielan Woods who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from Croco Bay (2019) and Global Citizen (2022).

Here are some of the top Johnny Henderson Grand Annual 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
Kielan Woods7-2-3+89.00+56.00
Sam Twiston-Davies10-1-1+19.00+8.50
Harry Skelton8-1-2+5.00+2.00
Darragh O'Keeffe4-1-1+19.00+10.75
Nick Scholfield4-1-1+11.00+5.75
Harry Cobden8-0-2-8.00-5.62
Mark Walsh8-0-2-8.00-5.70
Brendan Powell6-0-1-6.00-1.37
David Bass6-0-1-6.00-4.25
Jeremiah McGrath5-0-3-5.00+1.13

Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +155.00 is when runners had 0 wins in the past year.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners' last place was 3 starts ago, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-57.

The courses that have produced the most winners of the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual are Cheltenham and Newbury, 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 404 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 7 runners.

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual despite multiple attempts:

  • Beneficial (0 Wins from 16 runners)
  • Presenting (0 Wins from 9 runners)
  • Doyen (0 Wins from 8 runners)
  • Kayf Tara (0 Wins from 8 runners)
  • Kapgarde (0 Wins from 6 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Croco Bay in 2019, winning for Ben Case at odds of 66/1 under the guidance of Kielan Woods. 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 bookmark the best racing tipsters page so you can get easy access to the best OLBG racing tipsters.

Route to the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual

Many trainers will target races to use as prep races before coming to the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual, these are the races which the recent winners ran in before coming here:

InfoLast Race
2024 - Unexpected Party
Cheltenham - 9th of 12 (25/1)
Timeform Novices Handicap Chase
2023 - Maskada
Leopardstown - 11th of 23 (5/1)
Leopardstown Handicap Chase
2022 - Global Citizen
Sandown - 3rd of 5 (14/1)
Virgin Bet Contenders Hurdle
2021 - Sky Pirate
Warwick - 2nd of 4 (3/1)
Agetur UK Kingmaker Novices Chase
2020 - Chosen Mate
Gowran Park - 1st of 9 (6/1)
Daly Farrell Chartered Accountants Beginners Chase
2019 - Croco Bay
Worcester - 2nd of 5 (14/1)
Pershore Plum Festival Land OPlums Handicap Chase
2018 - Le Prezien
Cheltenham - 8th of 10 (9/2)
December Gold Cup
2017 - Rock The World
Cheltenham - 11th of 14 (8/1)
Cheltenham Showcase Meeting Handicap Chase
2016 - Solar Impulse
Exeter - PU of 4 (5/1)
188Bet Graduation Chase
2015 - Next Sensation
Newbury - 4th of 8 (8/1)
bet365 Handicap Chase

Schedule for Tuesday at the Cheltenham Festival

Prepare for the ROAR of the Cheltenham Festival on the opening day when the tape goes up for the Supreme Novices Hurdle, the feature on Tuesday is the Champion Hurdle.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Cheltenham
Supreme Novices Hurdle
Slade Steel (IRE)
6yo - 7/2
Henry De Bromhead
Rachael Blackmore
14:00 Cheltenham
Arkle Challenge Trophy
Gaelic Warrior (GER)
6yo - 2/1
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
14:40 Cheltenham
Ultima Handicap Chase
Chianti Classico (IRE)
7yo - 6/1
Kim Bailey
David Bass
15:20 Cheltenham
Close Brothers Mares Hurdle
Lossiemouth (FR)
5yo - 8/13
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
16:00 Cheltenham
Champion Hurdle
State Man (FR)
7yo - 2/5
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
16:40 Cheltenham
Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
Lark In The Mornin (GER)
4yo - 9/1
Joseph Patrick O'Brien
J J Slevin
17:20 Cheltenham
National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup
Corbetts Cross (IRE)
7yo - 15/8
Emmet Mullins
Mr Derek O'Connor

Schedule for Wednesday at the Cheltenham Festival

The dust has settled on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival and now on to day two. The feature on the second day is the Queen Mother Champion Chase. We also have the cross country scheduled on Wednesday, a race like Marmite, some love it and some don't!

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Cheltenham
Turners Novices Hurdle
Ballyburn (IRE)
6yo - 1/2
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
14:00 Cheltenham
Brown Advisory Novices Chase
Fact To File (FR)
7yo - 8/13
W P Mullins
Mark Walsh
14:40 Cheltenham
Coral Cup
Langer Dan (IRE)
8yo - 13/2
Dan Skelton
Harry Skelton
15:20 Cheltenham
Cross Country Chase
Delta Work (FR)
10yo - 11/10
Gordon Elliott
Keith Donoghue
16:00 Cheltenham
Queen Mother Champion Chase
Captain Guinness (IRE)
9yo - 17/2
Henry De Bromhead
Rachael Blackmore
16:40 Cheltenham
Johnny Henderson Grand Annual
Unexpected Party (FR)
9yo - 12/1
Dan Skelton
Harry Skelton
17:20 Cheltenham
Champion Bumper
Jasmin De Vaux (FR)
5yo - 9/2
W P Mullins
Mr P W Mullins

Schedule for Thursday at the Cheltenham Festival

Halfway through the festival and onto day three where the Stayers Hurdle is the feature race. A hurdle race to test the stamina and see how can last best up the Cheltenham hill.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Cheltenham
Mares Novices Hurdle
Golden Ace (GB)
6yo - 10/1
Jeremy Scott
Lorcan Williams
14:00 Cheltenham
Novices Limited Handicap Chase
Grey Dawning (IRE)
7yo - 5/2
Dan Skelton
Harry Skelton
14:40 Cheltenham
Pertemps Network Final
Monmiral (FR)
7yo - 25/1
Paul Nicholls
Harry Cobden
15:20 Cheltenham
Ryanair Chase
Protektorat (FR)
9yo - 17/2
Dan Skelton
Harry Skelton
16:00 Cheltenham
Stayers Hurdle
Teahupoo (FR)
7yo - 5/4
Gordon Elliott
Jack Kennedy
16:40 Cheltenham
Festival Plate
Shakem UpArry (IRE)
10yo - 8/1
Ben Pauling
Ben Jones
17:20 Cheltenham
Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup
Inothewayurthinkin (IRE)
6yo - 13/8
Gavin Cromwell
Mr Derek O'Connor

Schedule for Friday at the Cheltenham Festival

The final day of the festival and feature race that we have all been waiting for, the Cheltenham Gold Cup in which the Irish have been fairly dominant in recent years.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Cheltenham
Triumph Hurdle
Majborough (FR)
4yo - 6/1
W P Mullins
Mark Walsh
14:00 Cheltenham
County Handicap Hurdle
Absurde (FR)
6yo - 12/1
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
14:40 Cheltenham
Mrs Paddy Power Mares Chase
Limerick Lace (IRE)
7yo - 3/1
Gavin Cromwell
Keith Donoghue
15:20 Cheltenham
Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle
Stellar Story (IRE)
7yo - 33/1
Gordon Elliott
Sam Ewing
16:00 Cheltenham
Cheltenham Gold Cup
Galopin Des Champs (FR)
8yo - 10/11
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
16:40 Cheltenham
Foxhunter Chase Challenge Cup
Sine Nomine (GB)
8yo - 8/1
Fiona Needham
Mr John Dawson
17:20 Cheltenham
Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle
Better Days Ahead (IRE)
6yo - 5/1
Gordon Elliott
Danny Gilligan

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Johnny Henderson Grand Annual 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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