RSA Chase

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.