The Cathcart Challenge Cup was inaugurated in 1938 and named in memory of Frederick Cathcart, former Chairman of Cheltenham Racecourse, who died four years earlier, but was responsible for the creation on the Cheltenham Gold Cup, as a steeplechase, in 1924 and the Champion Hurdle in 1927. The race was always a steeplechase, but was run in various guises down the years, including an abortive stint as the Cathcart Champion Hunters’ Chase between 1975 and 1977. Most recently, though, it was a Grade 2 contest, run over 2 miles and 5 furlongs on the New Course at Cheltenham and open to first- and second-season steeplechasers.
The Cathcart Challenge Cup was run for the last time on March 18, 2004 and won by the six-year-old Our Armageddon, trained by Richard Guest and ridden by Larry McGrath, who made all the running to beat Iris Royal by 2½ lengths. The following year, the race was replaced by the Festival Trophy, initially sponsored by the Daily Telegraph, which was open to steeplechasers at all levels of experience. In 2006, Ryanair took over the sponsorship and, two years later, the newly-titled Ryanair Chase was promoted to Grade 1 status; alongside the Stayers’ Hurdle, the Ryanair Chase is one of the feature races on day three of the Cheltenham Festival.
Like its successor, the Cathcart Challenge Cup was a ‘championship’ race over a distance intermediate between that of the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. For the record, since World War II, the legendary Fred Winter was the leading trainer with seven wins, courtesy of Soloning (1972), Soothsayer (1974), Roller Coaster (1979), Dramatist (1982), Observe (1983) and Half Free (1986 and 1987).