Nicky Henderson urges support for Cheltenham Festival changes - but Willie Mullins says 'it's too expensive'

Nicky Henderson, who has been surpassed by only Willie Mullins in terms of winners at the Cheltenham Festival, urged people to look positively on the changes made to next year’s meeting, arguing that “we all want the best" for the four-day fixture. 

Henderson was speaking after the Jockey Club revealed a raft of changes to the festival on Thursday aimed at improving race competitiveness and customer experience after concerns regarding small field sizes and falling attendances.

Among the changes are the Turners Novices’ Chase, Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase and the National Hunt Chase being switched to handicaps, with the latter also being opened to professional riders having been exclusively for amateurs previously.

On the changes more broadly, Henderson said: “I hope everybody is going to support this, as I do. We all want the best for the meeting. Somebody is always going to be unhappy with some things, but we need to be positive. The changes are sensible and have been thought out. 

“With any of these things, you're never going to keep all the people happy all the time, there's no doubt about that. Overall, I find the changes very acceptable and we've discussed a lot of these things.”

Willie Mullins: "If they want to get people back it’s cost – it’s nothing to do with the horses that are running."Credit: Edward Whitaker

The changes were met with frustration by Willie Mullins, who said opening up the National Hunt Chase to professional riders was "a backwards step".

"We all know what’s wrong with Cheltenham – it’s just gone too expensive for ordinary punters to go there for a day’s racing," Mullins told Racing TV. "If they want to get people back it’s cost – it’s nothing to do with the horses that are running."

As well as changing the racing programme, the Jockey Club announced that tickets would be frozen at 2024 prices; discounts of ten per cent are being given to groups of six booked together, and tickets bought for any of the four days will be given a 20 per cent discount on tickets purchased for other days of the festival, with the exception of Gold Cup day. 

A spokesman for the Jockey Club said on Friday that customers who had bought tickets for multiple days at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival before Thursday's announcement would be refunded the difference in cost.

Read these next:

Michael O'Leary: 'These are inane and misjudged changes and horses will now start avoiding Cheltenham altogether' 

National Hunt Chase is given radical overhaul as Jockey Club reveals major Cheltenham Festival changes 

What you need to know - these are the changes made to the Cheltenham Festival race programme 

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