Oldies prove golden for Pipe in veterans' chases
Veterans' chases have been around for a while but the introduction of a series of valuable handicaps restricted to chasers aged 10yo+ is the shot in the arm the concept needed.
The second series culminated in teenager Pete The Feat winning the final, run over three miles at Sandown last Saturday and featuring a bumper field of 16 battle-hardened and popular chasers. It was a race that would have added lustre to any meeting, including the Cheltenham Festival.
Turn back time to 2007 and just one 10yo+ chase was staged in Britain - the Cartmel Grand Veterans National - but in subsequent years numbers have increased. In the years from 2009 to 2014, on average eight took place. The arrival of the veterans' chase series pushed this figure up to 12 in 2015 and there was a further rise to 15 last year (see table 1).
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