Turners Novices' Chase to become novice handicap in revamped Cheltenham Festival programme

The Turners Novices' Chase will lose its Grade 1 status and become an open novice handicap chase at next year's Cheltenham Festival as part of a revamped racing programme.

The race was introduced to the festival in 2011 as the Golden Miller Novices' Chase. Last season, the third year the Grade 1 had been run under the Turners banner, the 2m4f contest was won by Grey Dawning.

Since its introduction, the Turners Novices' Chase has come under scrutiny for its field sizes and its impact on the other Grade 1 novice chases at the meeting – the My Pension Expert Arkle and the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. In 2022, only four horses lined up for the race, all of whom were trained in Ireland, with Bob Olinger taking advantage of Galopin Des Champs' fall at the final fence.