It’s been all change in British horse racing this week.
For most, it’s been nice to see changes being made but many think it doesn’t go far enough. Alterations to the upcoming 2025 Cheltenham Festival have received mixed reactions, while a change to one flat meeting for next year has gone under the radar but raises questions for a major racecourse owner.
Six Changes to the Cheltenham Festival
Six specific alterations have been made to Cheltenham Festival races for the upcoming meeting in March.
The Turners Novices’ Chase, until now a Grade One race, will be replaced. The new race will instead be a limited novices’ handicap over its original distance of 2 miles, 3½ furlongs.
The Cross Country Chase has also had its status as a conditions race changed and it too will revert to being a limited handicap.
Penalties for the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle have been removed, with the Grade 2 race now being a level-weights event.
National Hunt Chase Handicap Decision Divides Opinion
One of the most polarising changes is the one that switches the National Hunt Chase to a limited handicap open now to professional riders. The race will now have a ratings band (0-145).
Comments online suggest this change suits some and not others, but more changes were also announced.
The handicaps at the festival not open to novices now feature a new rule. Horses must run four times over fences and five over hurdles to be eligible for their respective handicap events.
That’s an extra race each, while any winner of a Pertemps qualifying race during the season now gets a guaranteed place in the Pertemps Final as long as they are in the weights when the final declarations are made.
As well as the race changes, prize money has gone up by £115,000 and prices have been frozen for most areas concerning customers after online backlash over the past couple of years.
Cheltenham’s Six Major Festival Alterations:
- The National Hunt Chase becomes a Class 2 novices’ handicap chase, rated 0-145. Amateur rider restrictions are removed meaning professional jockeys can ride in the race
- The Turners Novices’ Chase is replaced with a Grade 2 limited novices’ handicap chase over just short of 2½ miles
- Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle race conditions are changed. Penalties are removed, meaning all participants carry the same weight
- The Cross Country Chase is changed to a limited handicap event instead of a conditions race
- Horses running in Cheltenham Festival handicaps (non-novice) must first run in four chases or five hurdle races to be able to take part
- Any horse winning a Pertemps qualifier will have an automatic berth in the Pertemps Final as long as they are still in the weights after the final declaration stage
These changes have been implemented by the Jockey Club after its consultation with various stakeholders.
They included racegoers, Festival participants, media, fans and sponsors. The beleaguered racecourse owner continues to nurse its problems however after selling a popular summer race meeting on the flat.
Criterion Moves to York
York Racecourse, it has been said, really deserves to host more of Britain’s top-class races.
The Criterion Stakes may be a Group 3 rather than a Group 1, but it often features some very talented horses and now it has been moved from Newmarket to York.
Last Ten Criterion Stakes Winners
| Year | Winner (Odds) | Trainer | Jockey |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Noble Dynasty (2/1) | Charlie Appleby | William Buick |
| 2023 | Audience (14/1) | John & Thady Gosden | Robert Havlin |
| 2022 | Pogo (18/5) | Charles Hills | Kieran Shoemark |
| 2021 | Glorious Journey (9/2) | Charlie Appleby | James Doyle |
| 2020 | Limato (5/1) | Henry Candy | Adam Kirby |
| 2019 | Limato (11/4) | Henry Candy | Harry Bentley |
| 2018 | Sir Dancealot (10/3) | David Elsworth | Gérald Mossé |
| 2017 | Home Of The Brave (13/8) | Hugo Palmer | James Doyle |
| 2016 | Breton Rock (11/4) | David Simcock | Martin Harley |
| 2015 | Markaz(6/1) | Barry Hills | Dane O’Neill |
The Jockey Club has essentially sold its Criterion race day as it continues to navigate its way through what it has called difficult financial waters.
While those in Yorkshire and even many a neutral racing fan will celebrate the meeting moving to the Knavesmire, it does mean a key race day on the seldom-used July Course is now gone and it wouldn’t be a major surprise if more followed.
The Criterion is run on the same day as the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle and also during the Irish Derby Festival. It has struggled for major attention in the past and is not the main draw on television that day.
Listed events the Empress Fillies’ Stakes and the Fred Archer Stakes also take place on the same afternoon, with the Group 3 Criterion being one of the better-quality seven-furlong events of the season.
Recent winners include Limato (twice), Audience and Noble Dynasty. The quality is improving, and it may well be that it continues on an upward trend when it is run at a more conventional track, though it may have a slight impact on Newcastle too.
Owing to the tough nature of the track at Gosforth Park, their Group 3 Chipchase Stakes on the same day often attracts some of the same horses as those in the Criterion. Those willing to head north anyway may now take in the Criterion rather than the Chipchase, assuming the prize money is bigger which is yet to be confirmed.