What are the Cheltenham Festival Format Changes for 2025?
Long established as the biggest and best National Hunt fixture of the year, you might think the Cheltenham Festival organisers would stick with a winning formula. However, it seems there is always room for improvement, and 2025 sees the most significant changes since the introduction of a fourth day in 2005.
So, what are these changes? And are they good or bad for the Cheltenham Festival?
Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase Replaced by a Limited Handicap
The headline change is the scrapping of the Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase, which is replaced by a Grade 2 Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase over the same 2m4f course and distance.
As a Grade 1, the only weight allowances for the Turners Novices’ Chase related to the age and sex of the horses. As a Limited Handicap, runners will carry weights according to their Official Rating. In effect, the 2m4f Novice Chase championship of the season has been replaced by a handicap affair – albeit a high-quality one.
Good or Bad
On the one hand, it is a shame to see the removal of the Turners Novices’ Chase, particularly as the novice hurdlers still have three Grade 1 targets in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (2m), Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle (2m5f), and Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
However, three Grade 1 Novice Chases, plus a Grade 2, served to water down the top tier events, with the leading yards splitting up their leading talents. For example, if Willie Mullins had two superstar novice chasers whose best trips were 2m – 2m4f, he could enter one in the 2m Arkle and one in the Turners. Good for Mullins, but a situation which often led to a plethora of odds-on favourites and a missed opportunity to see the best tackle the best.
With the removal of the 2m4f Grade 1 middle ground, it should become clear where the best novice chasers are heading some way in advance. If speed is their forte, the Arkle is the obvious choice, whilst if stamina is a strong suit, they will likely go for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. If the change has the desired effect, we expect to see increased field sizes in the Arkle and Brown Advisory in the coming years.
National Hunt Chase Becomes a Handicap and Open to All Riders
Following a reduction in distance from 3m7½f to 3m6f in 2020, this year sees further changes hit the longest continually running contest at the meeting.
Formerly a Grade 2 event in which sex allowances were the only weight adjustments in play, the National Hunt Chase now becomes a Novices’ Handicap for runners rated up to a maximum of 145.
In addition, a contest which was previously one of the biggest amateur-rider-only events of the season will now be open to professional jockeys.
Good or Bad
With amateur riders afforded so few opportunities to shine on the big stage, it feels a little harsh to take this race away – amateur riders are, of course, still permitted to ride, but it will be interesting to see how many trainers use them.
With ratings of 150, 155, 152, and 153, none of the past four winners would have qualified to run under the new 0-145 conditions. As such, the quality of performers in this event will inevitably decrease in line with that new handicap status. On the plus side, the change should help increase field size in a race which attracted only seven runners in 2024 and six in 2022.
Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase becomes a Limited Handicap
The most distinctive event at the meeting converted from a handicap to a conditions race in 2016. 2025 sees that plan reversed. From 2025, the Cross Country Chase will take place under Limited Handicap conditions with a rating band of 20lb.
Good or Bad
Whilst the switch to a conditions event increased the quality of the race, the effect was possibly a little too dramatic. Previously a relatively open affair, the race has increasingly benefitted star chasers from the leading yards. Gordon Elliott has claimed six of the eight editions since 2016, 50% of favourites have come home in front, and no winner has returned an SP of bigger than 7/1. Reverting to handicap conditions should, if nothing else, create a more interesting betting spectacle.
Penalty Structure Removed from Mares’ Novices Hurdle
In previous years, any mare who had won a Class 1 or 2 contest in the current season would carry a 3lb penalty in this Grade 2 contest – rising to 5lb if the win came in a Class 1 weight-for-age event. Those penalties are no more. Four-year-olds will carry 10st 8lb, and five-year-olds will shoulder 11st 4lb, in line with the weight-for-age system, but other than that, no penalties will apply.
Good or Bad
This change comes with two clear benefits. Firstly, it encourages trainers to run and win with their best mares earlier in the season. Previously, many may have spurned the chance to grab a big race win for fear of picking up a penalty. Secondly, in championship-level events, such as this, much of the appeal lies in seeing the best horse win. Creating a level playing field on the day increases the prospect of the most talented performer coming home in front.
Qualification Changes
The final two changes relate to the qualifying criteria for races:
- Pertemps Qualifiers Now "Win and You’re In" - The Pertemps Final Handicap is preceded by 22 qualifying events over the first half of the season. Previously, the final field was selected from the highest-rated horses who finished in the top four of any qualifying event. Now, any horse who wins a qualifier is guaranteed a place in the final field, so long as they would not be required to run from out of the handicap on the day
- Non-Novice Handicap Changes - In 2022, the rules were changed so that a horse must have competed three times over fences to line up in a novice handicap chase and four times over hurdles to enter a novice handicap hurdle. 2025 sees those numbers increase to four for chases and five for hurdles. The aim here is to enable punters to gain a clearer picture of a horse's ability before the festival and decrease the chances of a runner flying in completely under the radar
The Cheltenham Festival will look ever so slightly different this year, with the benefits of the changes only likely to be revealed in time. However, those four days in March still seem sure to provide the most spectacular show of Spring 2025.
