Cheltenham Festival Changes - Everything You Need To Know

Last month, we brought you the news that the Jockey Club were likely to revert both the Turners' Novices' Chase and the Cross Country Chase to handicap races. They do indeed headline a number of alterations that organisers have made to the Cheltenham Festival for 2025.

Here are the changes in full...

The opening race on day three of the Cheltenham Festival will no longer hold Grade One status. The Turners' will now be run as a Grade Two Novices' Limited Handicap. Whether that will be a 0-145 handicap, like the Kim Muir and the Martin Pipe - and the Centenary Novices' Handicap Chase that was removed from Cheltenham's schedule in 2021 - or a higher-quality contest, is yet to be confirmed. 

Since it was turned into a conditions contest in 2016, the top Irish trainers have used the Cross Country Chase as a prep race for their Grand National contenders. 

Horses who had competed in the Cross Country handicaps staged during each meeting at Cheltenham during the regular season were badly outclassed at the Festival, as superstars like Tiger Roll and Delta Work brushed their rivals aside off level weights. In a bid to improve competition in the division, the Glenfarclas Cross Country will revert back to being a handicap.

In each of the past three years, changes have been made to the oldest race at the Cheltenham Festival. The former "four miler" has been reduced in distance and less experienced horses have been barred from running in the contest. 

More changes have been made to the National Hunt Chase for 2025 and this historic contest will now also be run as a novices' limited handicap. Professional jockeys will also be allowed to take part, which is a change from tradition, as the National Hunt Chase has always been confined to amateur riders.

Horses who win a Pertemps Qualifier will now be guaranteed a spot in the final field, provided they are rated high enough to enter the weights. At first glance, this doesn't sound like a big change at all, but when you think about it, it is.

Take this year for example. The highest-rated horse in the final was rated 154, meaning entrants had to be rated at least 126 to make it into the weights. The bottom weight when the field was confirmed was rated 129, meaning that horses rated 128, 127 and 126 were balloted out.

Under the new rules, if a horse wins a qualifier and is rated within 24 pounds of the top-rated horse, they will be guaranteed a space in the final field, at the expense of higher-rated entrants.

Only a minor change to this race. Horses will no longer carry a penalty when running in the Mares' Novices' Hurdle. Horses who win key lead-up races like the Jane Seymour, the Solerina, or win at Graded level against the geldings, will compete off level-weights at the Festival. 

Last year, chasers needed three starts over fences, and hurdlers needed four starts over hurdles to qualify for a run in one of the handicaps. From 2025, the number of chase appearances needed to qualify has increased to four, and the number of hurdles runs has been upped, again, to five. This is to try and stop trainers from targeting lightly-raced novices at the handicap races.

To much conjecture, the price of a pint of Guinness has risen by 30p to £7.80 at Cheltenham racecourse. However, the Jockey Club have announced a series of off-course alterations that will make the meeting more enjoyable.

Ticket prices have been frozen for 2024. There's a 20% discount available for racegoers who want to purchase tickets for any two, or all of the first three days of the meeting. Group bookings of six or more people will also receive a 10% discount.

Cheltenham will team up with Venatour Racing to combat rising accommodation costs by offering discounted packages which include tickets, hotels and travel. This will be known as the "Room To Race" initiative.

More plastic hard-standing will be added to the car park, to prevent the park space from turning into a swamp if there's a sudden downpour. A new park-and-ride system will be introduced in the build-up to the Festival. National Express will also be adding 20 more pick-up locations for transporting spectators to the venue.