The Desert Orchid Handicap Chase is a Grade 2 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Kempton Park over a distance of about 2 miles (3,219 metres), and during its running there are twelve fences to be jumped. The race is scheduled to take place each year in late December during the course's Christmas Festival.
The race was first run on 27 December 2006. It is named in memory of Desert Orchid, a popular racehorse who died several weeks earlier. Desert Orchid won Kempton's most prestigious event, the King George VI Chase, four times between 1986 and 1990. His ashes were scattered at the racecourse on the day of this race's inaugural running. The event replaced the Castleford Chase in the National Hunt calendar as a Grade 2 chase over 2 miles. From 2006 to 2022 it was run as a conditions race.
In April 2023 the British Horseracing Authority announced that the race would become a Grade 2 Limited Handicap from the 2023/24 season.[1]
^"Package of changes agreed to help strengthen performance of British Jump racing". British Horseracing Authority. 27 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
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The DesertOrchidHandicapChase is a Grade 2 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at...
Racing Post Chase at Kempton. The Racing Post Chase of that year included many top-class handicappers and graded horses but DesertOrchid, carrying the...
Authority, including all races which currently hold Grade 1, 2 or Premier Handicap status. A National Hunt (NH) Pattern of important races was first recognized...
replaced as a Grade 2 chase in the calendar by Kempton Park's newly inaugurated DesertOrchidChase and became a handicapchase for horses rated between...
Arkle in Ireland, in the Christmas HandicapChase, the Thyestes HandicapChase and the Leopardstown HandicapChase, before another meeting with Mill House...
following year was renamed the DesertOrchid South Western Pattern Chase. In 1994 the race became a Limited Handicap, although it maintained its Grade...
win by a neck, with DesertOrchid another three lengths away in third. Pearlyman had one more outing which came in a valuable handicap at the Aintree Grand...
Dunwoody's race victories include the King George VI Chase four times - twice on DesertOrchid in 1989 and 1990 and twice on One Man in 1995 and 1996...
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hosted many of the world's most famous jumps horses including Arkle, DesertOrchid, Sprinter Sacre, Sire De Grugy, Kauto Star, Cue Card, Baracouda, Thistlecrack...
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Run (mare, ridden by Jonjo O'Neill), Arkle, Golden Miller, Best Mate, DesertOrchid & Kauto Star. The highest profile National Hunt race is the Grand National...
contests between David Elsworth's locally trained horses (Combs Ditch, DesertOrchid, Cavvies Clown, Lesley Ann) attempting to preserve local honour in the...
Cup before being renamed the Mecca Bookmakers' HandicapChase and then the Tingle Creek HandicapChase in 1979, in honour of Tingle Creek, a popular National...
Grade 1 Champion Chase. The other seven runners were Notebook, Rouge Vif, First Flow (Clarence House Chase), Nube Negra (DesertOrchidChase), Cilaos Energy...
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it ceased to be run as a handicap. The race often includes some of the leading contenders for the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Seven horses have won both...
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thirteen-year-old Irish veteran Sizing Europe, the Game Spirit Chase winner Mr Mole and the DesertOrchidChase winner Special Tiara. Sam Twiston-Davies positioned...