The RSA Chase, formerly
the Royal & Sun Alliance Chase, has been sponsored by British
multinational general insurance company, RSA Insurance Group, and its
predecessors, since 1974. The race is run over 3 miles and 110 yards
on the Old Course at Cheltenham, where it is currently scheduled as
the second race on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival in March
each year.
The RSA Chase is open
to novices – that is, horses that prior to the start of the current
season have yet to win a steeplechase – aged five years and
upwards, who are allocated weight according to their age and sex,
with no penalties for previous performances. The most successful of
the current crop of trainers is Willie Mullins, who saddled Florida
Pearl (1998), Rule Supreme (2004), Cooldine (2009) and Don Poli
(2015) for a total of four wins, so far.
Winners of the RSA
Chase often return to the Cheltenham Festival to win the Cheltenham
Gold Cup. In the last ten years, Denman (2007), Bobs Worth (2012) and
Lord Windermere (2013), all returned to Prestbury Park to win the
‘Blue Riband’ event in the National Hunt calendar in the year
immediately following victory in the RSA Chase.
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