The best against the best

The removal of the Grade 1 middle distance Novice Chase will encourage horses who are flexible on distance to target the Broadway (Gr.1) or the Arkle (Gr.1), which will strengthen the performance of these two races in both field size and competitiveness. In the current climate, there does not appear to be a sufficient horse population to sustain three Grade 1 and a Grade 2 Novice Chase during The Festival. As a result of the removal of the Grade 1 2m 4f Novice Chase, there will be an increase in prize money in the My Pension Expert Arkle Novice Chase and the Brown Advisory Novice Chase.

The race will be replaced by a 2m 4f Grade 2 Limited Handicap Chase (currently run at Sandown Park as part of the Imperial Cup meeting). This is a very similar race to the one run at The Festival until 2020, when it was removed to make room for the Mares’ Chase (as part of the extension of the Mares’ Programme).

The National Hunt Chase is a race that has a huge volume of history but has evolved a great deal over the last decade. The latest round of changes has resulted in much smaller field sizes for the race, so from 2025 it will be run as a Novice Handicap Chase and opened for Professional Jockeys to be able to ride in. The Kim Muir and St James’s Place Festival Hunters Chase will remain for amateur riders only.

Evolving the National Hunt Chase in this manner should provide more opportunities for more horses to run at The Festival. It is hoped that this change should strengthen the Brown Advisory Novice Chase (the Broadway). The previous rider and horse experience requirements remain, except for the min. rating required of 120 now this race is a handicap.

The Cross Country Chase is one of the most-loved spectacles of the Cheltenham Festival. The race changed from its previous guise as a handicap to a conditions race in 2016. At the time, the highest rated runners tended to be c150. While it has performed fine numerically (average field of 15.2 since 2016), it has become increasingly uncompetitive – with the starting price of the favourite being below 2-1 for five of the eight renewals since 2016. It has become dominated by a small number of higher rated horses (top rated hasn’t been below 159 since 2016), which in isolation has been positive, but it has reduced the competitive nature of the race.

In 2022 the prior experience criteria required to run in a Class 1/2 non-novice handicap was elevated from the previous three runs, to the current three Chase runs or four Hurdle runs. This change was partly in reaction to the number of unexposed (three run) horses who were dominating major handicaps. There are a number of benefits we expect to see from this change, including Festival handicaps becoming more competitive, more possible winners and connections more willing to compete as a result. It should also encourage high-quality, unexposed Novices to run in graded races.

The Dawn Run was introduced to The Festival as part of the wider industry Mares project in 2016. The race currently has a penalty structure which requires any mare who has won a Class 1/2 race prior to The Festival to carry a 3lb penalty, increased to 5lb for a Class 1 weight-for-age race, at The Festival. The race has attracted an average field size of 18.1 until 2024 when only eight runners took part (11 decs - three non-runners). While acknowledging the pressure on the top end of the horse population generally, the positivity of the mares horse population trends mean there is not an ongoing concern for future field sizes. There have been three odds on favourites in the nine runnings of the race. The current penalty structure is thought to be affecting running plans for horses in the lead-up to The Festival – encouraging them to miss the higher quality prep races (or running at all) to avoid picking up a penalty for The Festival. It is hoped this change will result in mares running more frequently throughout the season.

The Pertemps Final is the culmination of a series of 22 qualifiers across Britain, Ireland and France. Qualification for the final has evolved, previously requiring a run in a qualifier, then a top six finish and most recently a top four finish. There is an opportunity to improve the relevance and performance of the qualifiers. Horses who win a qualifier will receive protection from elimination provided they are within the handicap at declaration stage. This will ensure that only horses who are appropriate to compete in a Festival handicap can receive this benefit. The provision will apply to the winners of each qualifier only.