What are the major changes to the 2025 Cheltenham Festival?

At the time of writing, Jockey Club Racecourses (JCR), which owns Cheltenham Racecourse, has recently announced a raft of changes to the Cheltenham Festival, with the aim, it says, of making racing “more competitive and compelling”. Arguably the most contentious change comes to the oldest race run at the Festival, the National Hunt Chase. The traditional “four-miler”had already been shortened by two furlongs following a controversial renewal in 2019, which also saw changes to the qualification criteria for horses and jockeys.

However, what was previously one of the most important amateur races of the season has not only lost its Grade 2 status, having been downgraded to a 0-145 novices’ handicap, but will no longer be confined to amateur jockeys. Since 2020, when the most recent changes were implemented, the National Hunt Chase has attracted 14, 12, 6, 10 and 7 runners, but the decision to allow professional jockeys to ride in the race has been variously described as “bitterly disappointing”, by the Amateur Jockeys Association (AJA), and a “backwards move”, by trainer Willie Mullins.

Elsewhere on the Festival programme, the Golden Miller Novices’ Chase, which was promoted to Grade 1 status in 2014, has been discontinued and replaced by a Grade 2 novices’ limited handicap chase, also run over the intermediate distance of two and a half miles. The Cross Country Chase also reverts to its original handicap status, albeit a limited handicap with a 20lb weight range, after a series of uncompetitive renewals.