Arkle Challenge Trophy

__NOTOC__The Arkle Challenge Trophy is a Grade 1 National Hunt novice chase in the United Kingdom open to horses which are five-years-old or above. It is run over a distance of 2 miles (3,219 metres) on the Old Course at Cheltenham Racecourse, and it takes place annually during the Cheltenham Festival in March. There are twelve fences to be jumped in the race.

It was given its present name in 1969 to honour the racehorse Arkle, a three-time winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Prior to this the race had been known as the Cotswold Chase.

Since 1991 six winners of the race have gone on to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase, while a further five winners have been placed. This contrasts heavily with the situation beforehand, when Flyingbolt was the only winner to subsequently win the Champion Chase. The 1979 winner passed the post first in the following year's Champion Chase only to be disqualified some time after the event because of a positive drugs test.

Winners

* "Amateur jockeys indicated by "Mr"."note label|1947|1|1 The 1947 race was cancelled because of snow and frost.
note label|2001|2|2 The 2001 race was cancelled because of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis.

Notes

* 1956 - Sir Ken was a previous triple Champion Hurdle winner.
* 1978 - Alverton went on to win the following year's Cheltenham Gold Cup.
* 2007 - My Way de Solzen had previously won the World Hurdle in 2006.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/index.php?search_bar=stakes&query_type=stakes&field=view&id=5884 PedigreeQuery.com]
* Racing Post:
** [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=22991&r_date=1988-3-15 1988] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=28549&r_date=1989-3-14 1989] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=34094&r_date=1990-3-13 1990] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=39513&r_date=1991-3-12 1991] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=45312&r_date=1992-3-10 1992] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=51225&r_date=1993-3-16 1993] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=56813&r_date=1994-3-15 1994] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=62207&r_date=1995-3-14 1995] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=200048&r_date=1996-3-12 1996] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=233711&r_date=1997-3-11 1997]
** [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=247467&r_date=1998-3-17 1998] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=261968&r_date=1999-3-16 1999] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=276070&r_date=2000-3-14 2000] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=310633&r_date=2002-3-12 2002] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=326499&r_date=2003-3-11 2003] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=344209&r_date=2004-3-16 2004] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=366075&r_date=2005-3-15 2005] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=398283&r_date=2006-3-14 2006] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=422747&r_date=2007-3-13 2007] , [http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/result.sd?&race_id=447770&r_date=2008-3-11 2008]

ee also

* Horseracing in Great Britain
* List of British National Hunt races