This race is a recent addition to the Cheltenham Festival and is named after the prolific National Hunt trainer who retired in 2006. It is open to horses aged 4 and above and is restricted to conditional jockeys that have less than 75 wins under racing rules. Punters will be unable to rely on a backlog of trends for this race and will surely be making notes of winners and placed horses for this race in future years.

Conditions can play a big part in how this race pans out. The festival is coming to an end so by the time this race is run, the ground could be cut up if there's been bad weather and the fact that 3 hurdles races have already taken place earlier in the afternoon.

The race may also give an indication as to the future champion jockeys and is often contested by horses that have run well in the previous years Coral Cup. Pause and Clause was 3^rd in the 2009 Coral Cup and then won this race in 2010. This also gives weight to the idea that many winners have previously won or run well at the festival and any horse with course form can’t be passed over easily.

Top trainers Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins have won the race 6 times between them so well worth looking at their entries no matter what price they are in the betting.