UK Horse Racing Tips

The Game Spirit Chase is a Grade 2 steeplechase run over 2 miles and 92 yards at Newbury in February. Open to horses aged five years and upwards, the race is named in honour of Game Spirit, a prolific steeplechaser owned by the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother during the Seventies. Inaugurated in 1953, the Game Spirit Chase was promoted to Grade 2 status in 1992, having previously been run as a Listed handicap. Since 2012, the race has been sponsored by Betfair and is currently known, for sponsorship purposes, as the Betfair Exchange Game Spirit Chase.

Paul Nicholls has saddled seven winners of the Game Spirit Chase, namely Flagship Uberalles (2000), Kadarann (2003), Azertyuiop (2004 & 2005), Master Minded (2008 & 2010) and Mr. Mole (2015), making the Master of Manor Farm the leading trainer in the history of the race. Other high-profile winners down the years include Dunkirk (1965), Viking Flagship (1994 & 1996), Sprinter Sacre (2012) and Altior (2017, 2018 & 2020), all of whom won the Queen Mother Champion Chase, or the Two-Mile Champion Chase, as it was originally known, at least once. And let’s not forget Pendil (1973), who won the King George VI Chase twice and was just touched off, at odds-on, in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Unsurprisingly, for a race that routinely attracts a single-figure field, the Game Spirit Chase has proved a rewarding contest for favourite backers, with seven of the last ten market leaders successful, albeit it prohibitive odds on the whole. Recent trends also suggest that an official rating of 154, or higher, is a pre-requisite, as are at least six runs, and two wins, over regulation fences. At the time of writing, the 2023 renewal of the Game Spirit Chase is just days away and Greaneteen, who ticks all the boxes for recent winners, is a top-priced 4/7 to continue Nicholls’ dominance.

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