Taking its name from the Royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, the Clarence House Chase in a Grade 1 steeplechase run over 2 miles, 1 furlong and 167 yards at Ascot. Officially, the race was inaugurated, as a handicap sponsored by Victor Chandler – and hence known as the Victor Chandler Handicap Chase – in 1987, but the first two runnings were abandoned due to adverse weather conditions. Thus, the first winner was the 10-year-old Desert Orchid who, in 1989, successfully conceded 22lb to Panto Prince, albeit by just a head, in one of the most memorable steeplechases ever seen at Ascot.
In 2007, the Clarence House Chase was awarded Grade 1 status by the Jump Pattern Committee and ceased to be a handicap, but was abandoned again due to waterlogging. Having been run at Cheltenham in 2005 and at Sandown Park in 2006, during the redevelopment of Ascot, the race returned to the Berkshire course in 2008. At that point the distance was extended from the original 2 miles.
Nowadays, the Clarence House Chase is, unsurprisingly, considered a trial for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. All told, seven horses have won both races in the same season, including such luminaries of the two-mile steeplechasing division as Master Minded (2009), Sprinter Sacre (2013) and Altior (2019).
At this still early stage, with the exception of the Cheltenham Festival and, of course, the Grand National, bookmakers tend not to look far beyond the turn of the new year with their ante-post lists. However, they have priced up the Tingle Creek Chase – a similar race to the Clarence House Chase, run at Sandown Park in early December – and installed reigning Champion Chaser Energumene and Shiskin, who beat him in this race, before flopping badly at Cheltenham, as the market leaders.