Peterborough Chase

The Peterborough Chase is a Grade 2 National Hunt chase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Huntingdon over a distance of about 2 miles and 4½ furlongs (4,124 metres), and during its running there are sixteen fences to be jumped. The race is currently scheduled to take place on the first Sunday in December. In 2014, the race's total prize fund is £60,000.

A race called the Peterborough Handicap Chase, over three miles, was first run on Tuesday 2 December 1969. It was a new meeting with Huntingdon’s fixture allocation having been increased from six days to nine days for the 1969/70 season. It remained a three-mile handicap chase until 1977, after which it became a conditions chase over 2½ miles.

The first running as a 2½ mile conditions chase was in 1978 when it was run as the F A Standen Chase. It was first run under the name of the Peterborough Chase in 1979.

From its inception in 1969 it was always run on a Tuesday until 1997. It was moved to a Saturday in 1998 and remained so until 2007. In 2008 it was first run on a Thursday. The race will be run on a Sunday for the first time in 2014.

The only year the race was not run was in 1982 when the meeting was abandoned due to fog. In 1985 it was run as the Waterloo Meadows Centenary Chase.

The most successful horse in the race's history is Edredon Bleu, who won four consecutive runnings between 1998 and 2001. Wayward Lad (1981, 1983), Travado (1993, 1995) and Racing Demon (2006, 2007) are the only other multiple winners of the race.

Courtesy of Edredon Bleu's four wins, Racing Demon's two victories and additional successes from triple-Gold Cup winner Best Mate (2002) and Impek (2005), Henrietta Knight is the most successful trainer of the Peterborough Chase, winning a total of eight renewals. Captain Tim Forster and Nicky Henderson have both trained four winners apiece.

Desert Orchid, lining-up in the penultimate race of his long career, finished third in the 1991 Peterborough Chase. Ridden by Richard Dunwoody, the 12-year-old veteran finished third to Sabin Du Loir, beaten four lengths.

¹ The 2010 running took place at Newbury. ² The 2012 running took place at Kempton Park after the original Huntingdon fixture was abandoned due to a frozen track.

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