Seconds Out: Oli's latest monthly blog

Hello Racesharers,

Hope you’re all keeping well as the seasons get ready to turn from the Flat to National Hunt. There are obviously some huge Flat races still to come before we attentions turn fully to the obstacles - The Arc next Sunday, Champions Day at Ascot and, of course, one of the most fascinating races in recent times when City of Troy ships over to Del Mar to try and win a Breeders Cup Classic. No doubt I will share my thoughts on all those events in the weekly videos and hopefully see plenty of you at all those race meets.

But soon it will be the National Hunt Season where Golden Maverick and our new recruit Marlacoo will strut their stuff in your RaceShare silks. Hopefully we will head to Cheltenham in March with them because, as we say year after year, the Festival is the pinnacle of the sport.

This week the Jockey Club announced changes to be made to the Festival both in terms of the race programme and also to the customer experience. For those that missed it, here are the announced alterations…

RACE PROGRAMME

Six key changes are being made to the Cheltenham Festival race programme from 2025, with alterations made to the conditions of five individual races at the event as well as new requirements for horses running in non-novice handicaps. These changes are:

• The 2m 4f Turners (Golden Miller) Novices’ Chase will be replaced by a Grade 2 Limited Novice Handicap Chase over the same distance.
• The National Hunt Chase will become a Class 2 Novice Handicap Chase (0-145), with amateur rider restrictions for jockeys removed to allow professionals to take part.
• The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase will be changed from a conditions race to a Limited Handicap.
• The 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. 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).
• Currently horses must have run at least three times (chases) or four times (hurdles) to be eligible to run in non-novice handicaps at The Festival. From 2025, this will be increased to four chase and five hurdle runs.

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.

FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

A number of changes are being made to improve the experience for racegoers attending the Cheltenham Festival. These include:

• More hard-standing ‘trackway’ will be laid in Cheltenham Racecourse’s grass car parks than ever before. Covering an area the size of 17 football pitches this will aid the arrival and departure of racegoers, especially in the kind of adverse weather conditions experienced earlier this year.
• A new park and ride system will be launched within easy access of Cheltenham. In addition The Jockey Club has partnered with National Express to offer coach travel direct to Cheltenham Racecourse from more than 20 pick-up locations, doubling the number of coaches running to the venue.
• Racegoers will have more course-facing areas to enjoy a drink, easing queues and reducing the need to rush between races. Bar facilities are also being upgraded to give more choice and indoor seating​.
• Hot and cold meal deals will be offered, giving racegoers the opportunity to save money when buying any hot and soft drinks with food throughout the day and at multiple outlets on course.

VALUE AT THE FESTIVAL

In order to give racegoers better value for money and more options, a number of changes are being made. These include:

• All ticket prices for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival will be frozen at 2024 levels.
• Racegoers purchasing a ticket for any day of The Festival will be given a 20 per cent discount on any tickets purchased for other days of the event. Discounts will not be applied to Gold Cup day tickets.
• Groups of six people can save 10 per cent on ticket prices when booking together. Previously this discount was offered to groups of 15 or more.
• As announced earlier this month, The Jockey Club and Cheltenham Racecourse have entered into an exciting new partnership with leading sports tour operator Venatour Racing, which will give racegoers the opportunity to purchase discounted packages including tickets, hotels, travel and more in a one-stop shop initiative known as ‘Room To Race’.

I think it was universally agreed last year that changes needed to be made both to the customer experience and to the race programme and, as my colleague Ed Chamberlin very accurately stated in the immediate aftermath of the Festival earlier this year, the Jockey Club do and will listen. They have done just that and consulted many people within the sport but also crucially their loyal customers who year on year flock back to Cheltenham for four of the greatest days in Sport.

Regarding the race programme changes, I have to say I think the changes are welcomed. Returning the Cross Country to a handicap is something I’m particularly pleased to see, likewise the Turners becoming a handicap; those changes will make both those races more competitive and will slightly force the hand of trainers to run a Grade 1 novice in either the 2 or 3 miler G1 Novice races. It removes the middle option and will make for far more intriguing races over the shorter and longer trips.

However, I think the most important change to all - which will have implications to the whole framework of the National Hunt season - comes regarding the amount horses have to run to qualify for non-novice handicaps at Cheltenham. By adding an extra qualifying run, it means trainers will have to run their good horses more, thus providing more competitive and interesting races in the lead up to the Festival.

Regarding the customer experience, it was palpably obvious that last year's festival experience for many was suboptimal, particularly with plenty of people getting stuck in the mud in the car park. Again, the Jockey Club has responded with a solution and I’ve no doubt that the 2025 Festival will be, once again, a magical four days. All in all, I applaud the Jockey Club for listening and reacting and, hopefully, when we are all there cheering on a RaceShare horse at the Festival, we will mark it down as another amazing raceday experience on this wonderful RaceShare ride!

See you all soon,

Oli x