The Turners Novices’ Chase will lose its Grade 1 status and become an open novice handicap chase at next year’s Cheltenham Festival as part of a revamped racing programme.
The race was introduced to the festival in 2011 as the Golden Miller Novices’ Chase. Last season, the third year the Grade 1 had been run under the Turners banner, the 2m4f contest was won by Grey Dawning.
Since its introduction, the Turners Novices' Chase has come under scrutiny for its field sizes and its impact on the other Grade 1 novice chases at the meeting – the My Pension Expert Arkle and the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. In 2022, only four horses lined up for the race, all of whom were trained in Ireland, with Bob Olinger taking advantage of Galopin Des Champs' fall at the final fence.
The Grade 1 novice chases at the festival have increasingly come under pressure with field sizes dropping by a quarter in the last decade. In 2014, 36 horses contested the Arkle, Brown Advisory and Turners, but last season there were only 27 runners.
Paul Day, managing director of Turners, said: "I understand why the changes are being made but ultimately I think the Cheltenham Festival should be about the best competing against the best rather than handicaps. It's disappointing, but it is what it is."
Comment: We could have had Vautour v Un De Sceaux in an Arkle so I'm all for turning the Turners into a handicap
The change will resurrect a novice handicap chase at the festival. A 0-140 contest was run at the meeting between 2005 and 2020 and won by the likes of future Cheltenham Gold Cup winner A Plus Tard. The race was replaced by the Grade 2 Libertine Mares’ Chase, which has been run as the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase, in 2021.
As well as altering the Turners Novices' Chase to a handicap from a Graded race, the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase will revert to being a handicap in 2025.
The race, which was abandoned in March due to waterlogging, was introduced to the festival in 2005 as a handicap but was changed to a conditions race in 2016.
Since that change the contest has been dominated by Gordon Elliott, who has won it five times. In addition, Denise Foster, who oversaw the training of Elliott’s string during his six-month ban from the sport in 2021, won the race that year with Tiger Roll.
Delta Work: defended the Glenfarclas Chase
Delta Work and Galvin contest the 2023 Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham
Credit: Patrick McCann
The Racing Post understands changes are also set to take place requiring a horse to run more often before being eligible to contest a handicap at the meeting.
In 2022, the BHA altered the rules of racing to require novices to have run at least four times over hurdles before being permitted to run in a Class 1 or Class 2 handicap hurdle. The amendment followed State Man's victory in the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle after only three outings over hurdles.
The rules were not amended for Class 1 and 2 handicap chases, novice hurdles and juvenile hurdles, which at the moment require a horse to have run three times.
The Jockey Club announced in April it would be conducting a review of the Cheltenham Festival after this year’s meeting was criticised for uncompetitive races and for the dominance of a small number of yards.
Attendances over the four days dropped by 11,000 leading to a squeeze on Jockey Club funds that resulted in prize-money being cut by the group in May for the remainder of 2024.
A spokesperson for Cheltenham said: “It has been in the public domain for some time that we are looking at a number of aspects of the Cheltenham Festival following this year’s fixture.
“Alterations to the race programme form one element of changes to the event from 2025 and we have been seeking the views of a variety of stakeholders, from racegoers to participants to sponsors.
"Our priority has been to listen to the wide range of views before making decisions we believe are in the best overall interests of the festival and jump racing as a whole. We look forward to making an announcement about changes to the 2025 Cheltenham Festival in due course.”
