Grade 1 race | |
Location | Punchestown County Kildare, Ireland |
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Race type | Steeplechase |
Sponsor | William Hill |
Website | Punchestown |
Race information | |
Distance | 2 miles ½ furlong (3,219 metres) |
Surface | Turf |
Track | Right-handed |
Qualification | Five-years-old and up |
Weight | 11 st 12 lb Allowances 7 lb for mares |
Purse | €300,000 (2024) 1st: €177,000 |
2024 | ||
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Banbridge | Captain Guinness | Dinoblue |
Previous years | ||
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2023 | ||
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Energumene | Chacun Pour Soi | Blue Lord |
2022 | ||
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Energumene | Chacun Pour Soi | Envoi Allen |
2021 | ||
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Chacun Pour Soi | Allaho | Nube Negra |
The Punchestown Champion Chase, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the William Hill Champion Chase, is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Punchestown over a distance of about 2 miles and half a furlong (3,219 metres) and during its running there are eleven fences to be jumped. The race is scheduled to take place each year during the Punchestown Festival in late April.
It was formerly a handicap race, and for much of the 1990s and early 2000s it was usually sponsored by BMW. It became a conditions race in 1999, and it was subsequently backed by Betdaq (2004) and Kerrygold (2005–09) and Boylesports (2010–19). The present sponsor, William Hill, began to support the event in 2021.
The field usually includes horses which ran previously in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, and the last to win both races in the same year was Energumene in 2023.