Melling Chase Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Grand National Meeting)

2025 Melling Chase Preview

The Grade 1 Melling Chase is scheduled to take place in April of each year at the Aintree racecourse, the race is open to runners who are aged five or older.

Run during the Grand National meeting, the race is run over two miles and four furlongs where there are sixteen fences to be jumped.

Melling Chase Information:

• Melling Chase Past Winners
• Melling Chase Trainer Statistics
• Melling Chase Jockey Statistics

We also have a dedicated Aintree 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. We cover every race at the Aintree Grand National Meeting and below you can find links to all of the races for each of Thursday, Friday & Saturday.

How competitive is the Melling Chase 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 109%. The race in 2015 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 119%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Melling Chase, the over-round has been 114%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £114 which is bet.

Melling Chase Trends:

• 2025 Melling Chase Trends
• Melling Chase Trend Analysis

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 Melling Chase next time out then you would have backed a total of 9 winners. Backing all 19 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of +12.97. Before placing your bet on the 2025 Melling Chase see which other runners today are being backed on the racing predictions page.

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 4:53.10 was set by Don Cossack in 2015, which is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by Gordon Elliott and ridden by A P McCoy. The slowest winning time was set in 2018 when Politologue won in a time of 5:18.50, booked to ride was Sam Twiston-Davies on this Paul Nicholls trained runner.

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

1. Don Cossack (4:53.10) in 2015
2. Albertas Run (4:54.60) in 2010
3. Fakir Doudairies (4:57.48) in 2022

Melling Chase Past Winners

Here are the Melling 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 Melling Chase as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Where have the winning runners come from?

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

• GB: 12 winners with an additional 21 placings from 115 runners
• IRE: 8 winners with an additional 8 placings from 41 runners
• FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 3 runners

Melling Chase Trainer Statistics

There are two leading trainers in the Melling Chase over the last 20 renewals with both Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson who have both won the race three times. Paul Nicholls winners have been with Master Minded (2011), Politologue (2018) and Pic DOrhy (2023). Nicky Henderson's winners have been with Finians Rainbow (2012), Sprinter Sacre (2013) and Jonbon (2024). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Melling Chase are W P Mullins (2 wins), Alan King (2 wins), Joseph Patrick O'Brien (2 wins) and Mrs John Harrington (2 wins).

Here are some of the top Melling 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):

Melling Chase Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Melling Chase over the last 20 renewals is Mark Walsh who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from Fakir Doudairies (2021 & 2022).

Here are some of the top Melling 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):

Melling Chase Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +36.94 is when runners had 3 places in the past 180 days. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 0 career places in the class, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-38.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Melling Chase is Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 17 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 157 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 2 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Melling Chase:

• Kapgarde (2 Wins)
• Moscow Society (2 Wins)
• Villez (2 Wins)
• Walk In The Park (2 Wins)

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have been disappointed with multiple attempts but no wins in the Melling Chase, that stallion is Flemensfirth who has failed to produce a winner from 5 runners.

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Hi Cloy in 2006, winning for Michael Hourigan at odds of 14/1 under the guidance of Andrew J McNamara. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 10 winning favourites in the race. Whilst we wait for the 2025 Melling Chase remember you can get daily racing predictions from the top racing tipsters on the best racing tipsters page.

Schedule for Thursday at the Aintree Grand National Meeting

The three-day Grand National meeting kicks off on Thursday with four Grade 1 events on the seven-race card which features both the Aintree Hurdle and the Bowl Chase.

Schedule for Friday at the Aintree Grand National Meeting

Day 2 of the Grand National meeting is Ladies Day or Fabulous Friday, the highlights on the track being the Melling Chase plus there is the Topham Chase over the Grand National fences.

Schedule for Saturday at the Aintree Grand National Meeting

The Grand National is obviously the showpiece of the Aintree meeting and day 3 also includes three Grade 1 events, the feature of those being the Liverpool Hurdle.