Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase Stats & Trends 2025

The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase is the penultimate race on the Cheltenham Festival day two card. The Premier Handicap is contested over two miles on the New Course, with horses aged five and older able to compete.

Dan Skelton trained the winner in 2024, as Unexpected Party claimed success with Harry Skelton aboard. The nine-year-old was the fourth straight winner of the race to be priced at 10/1 or bigger.

Therefore, the stats and trends could make for vital reading before landing on a selection for the race in 2025.

There has been a mixed bag of winners in terms of age in recent years, with ten-year-old Global Citizen claiming success in 2022 and seven-year-old Maskada winning in 2023.

However, the trends since 2013 indicate that nine of the last 12 winners have been aged between seven and nine. No horse younger than seven has won the race since six-year-old Solar Impulse for Paul Nicholls in 2016.

All 20 previous winners of the Grand Annual know what it’s like to get their nose in front, with all having recorded between three and seven career victories.

Meanwhile, five of the last 12 winners have recorded a success over fences before lining up in the Grand Annual. Both of those trends bode well for Evan Williams-trained Libberty Hunter.

The trends indicate that horses rated 138+ have won eleven of the last 12 renewals of the Grand Annual. Meanwhile, the lowest-rated winner over this period was Global Citizen off 136 in 2022.

Each of the last three winners have been rated between 136 and 142, while the highest-rated winner of the race since 2019 was 152-rated Sky Pirate for Jonjo O’Neill in 2021.

Horses that have had runs at Cheltenham previously have a strong strike-rate in the Grand Annual. Nine of the victors since 2013 had made at least one previous start at the home of jumps racing.

However, winning experience at the track isn’t essential, with just four winners since 2013 having a previous success at the course to their name.

Nine of the 12 winners of the Grand Annual have carried between 10st 11lbs and 11st 6lb. But, those carrying under 11st have fared better in recent renewals, with three of the last six winners carrying lighter weights.

In recent history, Le Prezien carried the heaviest weight to victory when carrying 11-8 for the Paul Nicholls team in 2018.