The National Hunt season is back and with a new calendar year underway, a lot of horse racing fans will turn their attention towards the Cheltenham Festival. With racegoers finally back in attendance after over a year’s absence due to the coronavirus pandemic, anticipation is certainly building and a lively atmosphere is definitely expected, with punters frantically scanning the Cheltenham odds to predict a winner.

One of the biggest events on the Festival’s itinerary is Ladies Day, with the Queen Mother Champion Chase always a race that delivers entertainment. Having been ran since the late 1950s, the one mile, seven-furlong race is littered in history, with a variety of different winners and this year proves to be no exception, with Shishkin currently top in betting tips for the Cheltenham Festival. Read on, as we list off the last four previous winners, and what they did to cement their own Cheltenham legacy.

2021 – Put The Kettle On

Believe it or not, Put The Kettle On was the first mare to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Despite the race taking place behind closed doors, the Henry de Bromhead-trained eight-year-old made all the noise on the racecourse, and even when she fell behind slightly to one of the favourites in Nube Negra, she kept on well and disputed the lead, eventually gaining the ascendancy towards the finish. It was a great win for De Bromhead and jockey Aidan Coleman, who went on to reach 1000 professional wins later in the Festival, speaking highly of Put The Kettle On after.

“I don’t know to be honest, it’s a tough one,” Coleman said. “But her form here is better than anywhere else and, as a two-mile chaser, if you’re going to have form around a track this is where you want it.

“Her tenacity and attitude is something to behold. She doesn’t give you anything easy but when you are on her side, you couldn’t have a more willing partner.”

2020 – Politologue

It still seems strange to think a maximum capacity crowd was in attendance to watch this race just weeks before the country entered its first national lockdown. Good spirits were certainly still in there, blissfully unaware of what was about to follow as Paul Nicholls’ Politologue clinched first place after coming runner up the year before.

It was a race worthy of a third Grade One victory for the seven-year-old, seeing off admittedly stiff competition from Dynamite Dollars and 33/1 outsider Bun Doran, who was content with a podium place. Harry Skelton was the jockey overseeing a strong performance, closing out victory in style to add to the 143 wins he picked up in the 2020/21 season.

2019 and 2018 – Altior

It’s becoming rarer in horse racing for a specific race to be dominated by one horse in particular but in 2019 and 2018 the Queen Mother Champion Chase was caught in the stranglehold of Nicky Henderson-trained Altior. While the 2019 edition of the race was hotly contested, just about seeing off Politologue and Sceau Royal, the latter was extremely emphatic — cruising to victory at Cheltenham with panache. Altior may have only raced four times since his back-to-back wins, but will certainly be regarded as a racing legend considering some of the margins he won by.