Grand Annual Handicap Chase

The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase is a Grade 3 steeplechase open to horses five-years-old and up. It’s one of the oldest, beginning all the way back in April 1834. As the namesake suggests, it’s a handicap race and takes place each year in March.

The Grand Annual is the final race at the Cheltenham Festival. Free Bet odds are generally placed at 4/1, so your bookie pays you each-way bets to fourth place; you can cash in reasonably regularly. Knowing which horse to bet on is an integral part of the experience.

Grand Annual Handicap Chase: Betting Odds

Grand Annual Handicap Chase: Tips, Predictions, and Previews

The next race is set to take place on March 17th, 2021, and seeing as the lineup is yet to be confirmed, we can’t conclusively say which horses will run. There is some talk around three horses set to be favourites though, and these include: Honeysuckle, Appreciate It, and Envoi Allen.

Honeysuckle has won eight races, the last one being in 2020 at Cheltenham Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle. The race was in soft conditions, heavy in places. Since the race is 2m3f200y, meaning Honeysuckle is definitely suited for the Grand Annual Chase.

Appreciate It, on the other hand, has won two races. In the previous Cheltenham, he placed second in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper. Conditions were soft during the race. The Champion Bumper is 2m87y, very similar to the distance run by the horses in the Grand Annual Handicap Chase. Finally, Envoi Allen also has won nine races in the past six years. He also won at Cheltenham last year in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle. The conditions were soft, and the distance was 2m5f. These put the odds somewhat in his favour when predicting the outcome of the 2021 race.

Grand Annual Handicap Chase: Recent Winners