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The Cheltenham Festival will undergo a series of dramatic changes in 2024, including modifications to five of its 28 races.
Seen as the highlight of jumps racing, the four-day meeting in March was the subject of an extensive review, with The Jockey Club saying the changes will provide "more competitive racing and a better experience and value for all visitors to the Home of Jump Racing".
There will be six key changes made to the race programme for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.
The Turners Novices' Chase will be replaced by a Grade 2 Limited Novice Handicap Chase over two-and-a-half miles, while the National Hunt Chase will also become a Novice Handicap Chase for horses rated 0-145, with amateur rider limitations now removed.
The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase will also revert to handicap status for the first time since 2016.
Race conditions for the Ryanair Mares' Novices Hurdle will be changed to remove the penalty structure, resulting in a level weights contest.
From 2023 any horse finishing in the first four of a qualifying race for the Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle has been eligible for the race at The Festival, but from 2025 the race conditions will be altered to provide a guaranteed run in the Pertemps Final for all winners of series qualifiers (provided they are within the weights at declaration stage).
In addition to these changes, The Jockey Club will be increasing prize money over the four days by £115,000, taking the total on offer at the Cheltenham Festival to £4,930,000 in 2025. Prize money for all the Cheltenham Festival races will be published in due course.
Ruby Walsh, the most successful jockey of all time at The Festival with 59 winners, was one of those consulted about the race programme changes and expects a mixed response.
He said: "All the changes are geared towards making the races more competitive. The aim is to attract as many of the best horses as possible to run at the Cheltenham Festival and for them to run in the right races.
"Cheltenham is the pinnacle of jump racing, and these changes help to maintain that.
"Of course, there will be some people who think these changes go too far and there will be some who think they don't go far enough. The important thing to remember is that those making these changes have done so in the best interests of jump racing and The Festival."
Britain's 14-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls added: "On the whole, these changes sound very sensible. Everybody has different opinions, and you cannot please everybody at the same time, but I think we have to try and make the racing as competitive as possible as that is what the Cheltenham Festival is all about.
"One thing I have been impressed with is the way Cheltenham Racecourse has approached the changes by saying we will look and see what effect they have in the years ahead and then maybe review again – it is all part of an ongoing process. As I have said before, anything which makes racing more competitive can only be a good thing."
