Cheltenham Festival changes: What would you tweak?

But what was missing? What other changes, if any, would you have made?

Email your thoughts to racingfeedback@sportinglife.com, while the Timeform and Sporting Life team have their say below. Scroll down for latest reader feedback.

Dan Barber

Cheltenham’s desire to change should be applauded. But did they tackle the race most responsible for drawing big players away from the biggest prizes?

The clash with Punchestown’s equivalent Grade One can’t be ignored, but aim to tempt the best mares to take in a Supreme, Champion or Stayers' Hurdle at the Festival first while still providing them the option of a Grade One against their own sex a month later by moving the David Nicholson and Dawn Run to the two-day Cheltenham April fixture, with the obvious bonus of bolstering that later meeting with a couple of clear figurehead races it currently lacks.

Matt Brocklebank

There’s absolutely no question that regular National Hunt enthusiasts - those who populate their local tracks week-in week-out - have been a bit turned off by what the Festival has become over the past decade or so and they’ve been looking at cheaper, more accessible alternatives elsewhere. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs but I’m glad to read that the changes to do with customer experience appear to be benefitting precisely that category of customer as people do appreciate what they consider to be a bit of value for money, be that a meal deal, free racecard or drinks voucher. The small things really do count when it comes to a day at the races as costs quickly rack up.

As for the programme itself, I’m a fan of the return of an intermediate novices’ handicap chase to help feed the top horses in the Arkle or the Broadway. I’d probably have gone one step further and binned off the Ryanair Chase too but realise that was never likely to happen.

The fascinating one for me is that the National Hunt Chase becomes another handicap – so we now have that (3m6f), the Kim Muir (3m2f, amateur riders) and the Ultima (3m1f) which are all three mile-plus handicap chases in which novices can compete, providing they’ve had enough qualifying runs. That just looks a touch congested to me and it’s worth recalling that the Ultima didn’t actually fill last March. Maybe the Ultima or Kim Muir should be closed completely to novices.

Only seven ran in last year’s NH Chase, including winner Corbetts Cross, second Embassy Gardens and Salvador Ziggy (PU), who would all have been rated too highly to run in the new 0-145 format of the same race. Time will tell whether there are enough horses to fill that void and make this the sort of competitive contest officials are clearly hoping for. I have my doubts.

Ben Linfoot

The Cheltenham Festival changes announced this week are largely positive in my view, with the desire to funnel the best novices into the remaining Grade One novice chases a positive move. We can’t expect wholesale changes all at once, but it’s an encouraging step and proof that Cheltenham are listening. The Festival remains the pinnacle of the jumps season and it is with hope it remains that way for a long time yet.

The one championship race I really fear for is the Unibet Champion Hurdle, one of my favourite races growing up. Gone are the days of big fields and horses from the Flat attempting the test of speed and there is little Cheltenham can do when potential hurdlers are sold abroad in a bid to plunder prize-money from the vastly more lucrative world of international Flat racing.

But at the very least they can ensure the best hurdlers are taking on the best hurdlers and I think it’s time to remove the option of the Mares’ Hurdle at the Festival in a bid to try and revive the competitiveness of the Champion Hurdle. The mares’ programme has been a success and the Mares’ Hurdle has been a big part of that, but when you see horses like Lossiemouth go for a penalty kick against her own sex when she would’ve significantly enhanced a championship race then alarm bells start ringing.

So for me it is time to remove the Mares’ Hurdle from the Festival. You could remove all the Mares’ races and have a Grade One Mares’ Showcase day at the April meeting, or move the Mares’ Hurdle to Trials Day or move it to a different Jockey Club track. But having it at Cheltenham the same week as the Champion Hurdle is harming a vulnerable championship race. And when any changes in the future are discussed, it’s the success of the crown jewels of the Festival that should be prioritised.

Phil Turner

To be honest, the tweaks to the 2025 Cheltenham Festival programme are rather akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic - they are unlikely to have much of an effect given the impending iceberg! Willie Mullins, of course, plays the role of jump racing's iceberg in this scenario, with the likes of Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead forming other potent maritime hazards from across the Irish Sea. That mass concentration of top talent within a handful of powerhouse Irish yards seems set to continue indefinitely unless the BHA can find the stomach for a major overhaul of the UK's over-crowded fixture list and, alas, there is little sign of that happening in the short term. As for the specific 2025 proposals, the decision to end the current format for both the Golden Miller (Turners) and National Hunt Chases may result in more competitive fields for the Arkle and Broadway Chases, though that's certainly not a given and the proposed replacement races hardly fill me with excitement.

Personally, I'd have a higher ceiling than 0-145 for the new Turners as I'd like to see it attract better horses like the novice handicap chase at the Punchestown Festival does - I suspect the decision to make it a handicap will be enough of a deterrent to put off most connections of potential Arkle and/or Broadway contenders. The National Hunt Chase has been in a lull for a while and I fail to see how switching it to a handicap open to professionals will change that - given its history, I'd have left it as it was or just binned it altogether.

If the Cheltenham Festival is to live up to its self-styled billing as the 'Olympics of Jump Racing', then switching the Cross-Country Chase back to a handicap hardly makes much sense - particularly as the presence of top-class performers such as Tiger Roll, Delta Work and Galvin has arguably enhanced that race's reputation in recent years rather diluted it. I've no strong view about the removal of penalties for the Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle, though it does seem at odds with the other proposals given that, theoretically, it could slightly reduce the competitiveness of that race rather than increase it.

Admittedly, I'm one of those dinosaurs who would have preferred it to have remained a three-day Festival! That said, it should be acknowledged that change can be good and Cheltenham deserve praise for some of their previous tweaks over the past two decades. For example, the Martin Pipe and Fred Winter have been really good additions to the Festival schedule - indeed, I'm one of the few who thinks that the Triumph Hurdle is a better race now (albeit a very different one) to what it was before thanks to the introduction of the Fred Winter.

Billy Nash

The one race that adds nothing to the Festival to me is the Mares' Chase. I can see why they put it there but I don't think it's had the effect they wanted it to. Two years ago when you had Impervious beating Allegorie De Vassy, either of those two would have held their own in one of the open Grade One novice chases.

Limerick Lace, who won it last year, was one of the favourites for the Randox Grand National and clearly would have been very competitive in one of the Festival handicaps. I don't think this contest adds anything to the Festival and those mares would add something to whatever race they contested instead at the meeting. Getting rid of that would be my first change.

Ed Chamberlin

I'll hold my hands up, I was one of the people consulted on this. I didn't get too involved over the race programme, I was keen to emphasise from our point of view that the Cheltenham Festival remains incredibly popular, it's huge for the sport.

Yes, it needs to get some of that buzz back, and from the Jockey Club's point of view they have to pack it out again. The alarm for them from last year was the drop in crowd. How do they do that? Changing the Turners to a novice handicap chase isn't going to make a jot of difference to attendance.

The number one reason keeping people away is cost. They've listened and taken action. There are the meal deals, ticket and hotel offers. There are some good ideas around transport too. I love the idea of the park and ride schemes and extra coaches, I love the 700 parking spaces in a nearby multi-storey, it's all good stuff.

But the one thing I pushed really hard for is that first connection, first interaction, as a racegoer when you arrive. There are lots of once-a-year, occasional, racegoers and that first impression is so important. Meetings like York and the Qatar Goodwood Festival are so successful because you arrive there and feel welcome. At York you get a free racecard and that's where Cheltenham need to get more like.

I'm confident, and while we haven't heard about it yet, that they might do that whether it be with race makers or taking ideas from London 2012 in terms of helping customers. We have to stop that first contact being 'let me search your bag and take your picnic away'.

That's got to stop and for me and is vital in bringing racegoers back to the Cheltenham Festival. It's a very special event, over the last two years we've had record numbers in terms of viewing figures, but when it comes to bringing people back it's all down to customer experience and not any tweaks to the races or schedule.

David Johnson

I've got a bit of a problem with them doing nothing with the novice hurdle programme. They've made it more difficult for novice hurdlers to run in the open handicaps but haven't done anything about helping novices that are rated in that 130 to 145 bracket. They have nowhere to go, really.

They're making it more difficult for them to run in races like the County Hurdle yet a 130 to 145 novice isn't really adding anything to races like the Sky Bet Supreme or Gallagher Novices' Hurdle to my mind. What I would rather see is a novices' handicap hurdle for that kind of horse. I don't have a problem with the Supreme now being down to 12 runners, say, from over 20. The ones that turn up now, it's a proper race and competitive, we don't need the no-hopers, horses that were going off at huge prices.

So why not allow them to run in a novices' handicap? You'd have a brand new race that's going to be competitive with a betting element to it too.

Latest reader feedback

Rory - Having gone through the late 80's with my father and followed racing all my life, you couldn't pay me to go to the festival these last 30 years, the same issues then are STILL being "looked at"!

Overcrowded communal areas, terrible parking situation, people attending as part of a corporate p#@$ up, it's was clear to me and my father back in 1989 as i watched Desert Orchid dig in to win the Gold cup from my 66/1 bet Yahoo !, that it's a business and borderline Food and beer festival with a bit of horseracing thrown in, not enough is done for genuine race goers, i would ban alcohol and implement drug testing, would see both an improvement in the facilities as well as proving it's serious professional sport by attracting genuine horseracing folk.

Money is the whole objective unfortunately, that's the reality.

On the racing itself, I would definitely limit the number of runners from the same stable, W Mullins, being the obvious one, yes they may be for several different owners, who are clearly obsessed with having a runner at the festival, but limiting him to 2-3 per race would help the sport both at Cheltenham and in Irish racing which has lost all its appeal with his dominance through shear quantities and quality, much the same as O'Brien's unhealthy grasp on the flat.

Doug - Hi team, aside from the obvious (change Mares hurdle and Mares chase) I'd suggest a couple of small things.

I'd get rid of the bumper, or if that seemed unpalatable, restrict it to 4yo and 5yo who have run no more than twice under rules. This will stop the "saving" of horses for the bumper and increase the competition of the novice hurdles.

And change one of the hurdles so it's restricted to ex Flat horses who raced on the flat at 3 or 4 yo - trying to encourage purchase of flat bred horses. Restrict it to novices and 2nd season novices. It could replace the martin pipe.

Martyn - Maybe I'll be shot down in flames for this but I think the whole Cheltenham festival needs a radical re-think. Traditionalists will not like what I am proposing but from my experience if you brand something as the best of the best (as Cheltenham does) then you have to make that brand relatable to the newer generations as well as satisfying the established race-goer.

What I would propose would be the following races at the Festival:

Champion Juvenile Hurdle
2m

Champion Novice Chase
2m
2m 4f
3m

Champion Novice Hurdle
2m
2m 4f
3m

Champion Chase
2m
2m 4f
3m 2f

Champion Hurdle
2m
2m 4f
3m

Champion National Hunt Flat Race
2m

Champion Amateur Chase
3m 2f

Champion Amateur Hurdle
3m

Champion Hunter Chase
3m

Champion Mares Chase
2m 4f

Champion Mares Hurdle
2m 4f

Champion Handicap Hurdle
2m
2m 4f
3m

Champion Handicap Chase
2m
2m 4f
3m

Champion Cross Country Chase
3m 5 1/2f

By using the words Champion as a prefix to the race then it automatically demonstrates that this is the ultimate race for that category. The previous race titles and sponsors can easily be included to suit but the overriding factor here is to make the races the pinnacle ones in National Hunt racing.

Take for instance the Grand National, The Derby etc, they are not marketed as the the Triumph or Supreme etc: They mean what they say. Would this change not also be better for owners too? I'm sure I'd like to own a Champion Handicap Chaser rather than the Jim Jones Challenge Cup winner. These changes may take time but they will become more viable and popular as time passes, and that is what we need to do, look to the future, not dwell or tinker with the past.

James Stark - I am not unhappy with what’s proposed so far except the NH Chase should go back to 4 miles and I note that the 2m4f novices race is a limited handicap like the old Jewson not a 0-145.

1. I would swap the Mares Hurdle with the Albert Bartlett - it might be less attractive to top mares who could run in the Champion on the stiffer New Course whilst the Albert Bartlett is too gruelling on the New Course too many horses that run in it are bottomed by it.

2 Make the Martin Pipe a novice handicap 0-145

3 The last day fizzles out tamely - the County Hurdle should return to its traditional slot as the last race of the meeting - nowadays lots more people seem to leave early after the Gold Cup

4 Swap the Plate and the Grand Annual - three 2m4f chases on one day is boring.

5 The idea to make the best race of the day the fourth rather than the third race after the wild winds year was a mistake, the Ultima and Albert Bartlett seem like a comedown after the races before them rather than building atmosphere to the best race of the day.

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