The Grimthorpe Handicap Chase is a National Hunt handicap steeplechase in England which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of about 3 miles and 2 furlongs (3 miles, 2 furlongs and 1 yard or ) and during the race there are 19 fences to be jumped. The race is scheduled to take place each year in late February or early March.
Prior to the early 1980s the Grimthorpe Chase was run over two miles and 150 yards. The distance was then nearly doubled to a stamina testing four miles and 100 yards.
The distance was changed again to the current trip in the 1990s, when it was run as the Velka Pardubicka Grimthorpe Chase, a reference to Velká pardubická, a famous race run in the Czech Republic over varied obstacles. The race is now considered to be a trial for the Grand National.
The race is named in honour of the Grimthorpe family who have been involved in racing for many years. Ralph Beckett, 3rd Baron Grimthorpe owned Fragrant Mac (winner 1952 Scottish Grand National) and Fortina (winner 1947 Cheltenham Gold Cup). Christopher Beckett, the fourth Baron, was a member of the Jockey Club and director of Thirsk Racecourse, and the current Baron Grimthorpe, Teddy Beckett, has been chairman of York Racecourse and racing manager to Khalid Abdullah.
Winners since 1985 Year Winner Age Weight Jockey Trainer 1985 Immigrate 12 10-02 Neale Doughty Gordon W Richards 1986 Abandoned due to frost 1987 Hardy Lad 10 11-00 Micky Hammond Jumbo Wilkinson 1988 Deep South 9 11-08 Mark Dwyer Jimmy FitzGerald 1989 Shepherd's Hymn 8 11-02 Reg Crank Paul Blockley 1990 Damers Cavalry 7 11-00 Bruce Dowling Richard Lee 1991 Mirage Day 8 11-02 Norman Williamson John Edwards 1992 Damers Cavalry 9 10-03 P McLoughlin Richard Lee 1993 Damers Cavalry 10 11-07 Rodi Greene Richard Lee 1994 Shraden Leader 9 10-06 Norman Williamson Kim Bailey 1995 Meleagris 11 10-11 Adrian Maguire David Nicholson 1996 No race 1997 Father Sky 6 10–11 Jamie Osborne Oliver Sherwood 1998 The Toiseach 7 10-08 Tony Dobbin James Fanshawe 1999 Abandoned due to snow 2000 Knight Templar 7 10-00 Barry Fenton Paul Nicholls 2001 Abandoned due to Foot and Mouth outbreak 2002 Skillwise 10 10-00 David O'Meara Tim Easterby 2003 Tom's Prize 8 10–11 Marcus Foley John Spearing 2004 Grey Abbey 10 11–12 Alan Dempsey J Howard Johnson 2005 Run For Paddy 9 10-05 Noel Fehily Mark Pitman2006 No race: Course closed for redevelopment 2007 No race: Course closed for redevelopment 2008 Cloudy Lane 8 11-09 Jason Maguire Donald McCain 2009 Out The Black 11 10-00 Tom O'Brien Philip Hobbs 2010 Wogan 10 10-02 Andrew Tinkler Nicky Henderson 2011 Always Right 9 10-10 James Reveley John Wade 2012 Ikorodu Road 9 10-00 Charlie Poste Matt Sheppard 2013 Quentin Collonges 9 10-00 Andrew Tinkler Henry Daly 2014 Night in Milan 8 10–12 James Reveley Keith Reveley 2015 Wayward Prince 11 10-04 Robert Dunne Hilary Parrott 2016 The Last Samuri 8 11–12 David Bass Kim Bailey 2017 Red 8 11–00 Danny Cook Brian Ellison 2018 Abandoned due to snow 2019 Chidswell 10 10-04 Craig Nichol Nicky Richards 2020 Captain Chaos 9 10-13 Harry Skelton Dan Skelton 2021 Red Infantry 11 09-11 Charlie Todd Ian Williams 2022 Undersupervision 6 10-11 Sam Twiston-Davies Nigel Twiston-Davies 2023 Moroder 9 10-02 James Best Seamus Mullins 2024 Does He Know 9 12-00 David Bass Kim Bailey 2025 Moroder 11 10-07 James Best Seamus Mullins 2026 Jasmin De Grugy 7 11-03 Richie McLernon Anthony Honeyball
See also Horse racing in Great Britain List of British National Hunt races
References
Racing Post: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
External links Race Recordings (1994-2014) youtube.com