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

The Cheltenham Festival race programme has undergone six important changes as part of the Jockey Club's latest review. Here are the changes outlined in full.

Golden Miller (Turners) Novices' Chase axed and replaced with a handicap
The 2m4f Golden Miller, introduced as a Grade 2 in 2011 before attaining Grade 1 status three years later, has been discontinued in a bid to strengthen the 2m Arkle and 3m Broadway. Although 11 horses contested the race last season, there were only four runners in 2022, none of them British, reflective of the novice chase division's shrunken population. Taking the Golden Miller's place is a Grade 2 2m4f limited novice handicap chase, an adaption of the contest held at the festival until 2020, after which it was moved to Sandown.

National Hunt Chase becomes a novice handicap open to professional jockeys
The evolution of the festival's oldest race continues. An event that used to be confined to horses who had been maidens at the start of the season has most recently been a 3m6f Grade 2. Following a series of poor numerical turnouts, the marathon has been downgraded to a 0-145 novice handicap. The traditional stipulation that only amateur jockeys can ride in the race has been removed.

Tiger Roll is the most celebrated of Cheltenham's cross-country starsCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

The Cross Country Chase turns into a limited handicap
The Cross Country became a conditions race in 2016, having initially been staged as a handicap. In its latest guise, the race has become increasingly uncompetitive, with the favourite sent off below 2-1 in five of the last eight runnings. It will revert to its old handicap status, although now with a 20lb weight range in an effort to attract high-quality chasers.

Winners of Pertemps series qualifiers get ticket to the final
Qualification for the Cheltenham Festival final has increasingly been tightened, the previous change being that horses had to finish in the first four in one of the 22 qualifiers. That requirement remains but qualifier winners will now receive protection from elimination in the final, provided they are within the handicap at declaration stage.

Runners in non-novice handicaps now need more experience
In 2022 the prior experience criteria for the festival's non-novice handicaps was amended to three chase runs and four hurdle runs. That now becomes four chase runs and five hurdle runs, the intention being both to make handicaps more competitive and direct potential top-class novices into the festival's championship races.

Penalties removed from Mares' Novices' Hurdle
Winners of a Class 1 or 2 race have been required to carry a 3lb penalty, with winners of a Class 1 weight-for-age race forced to shoulder a 5lb burden. That is thought to have reduced the number of times some mares ran in the lead-up to the festival. In future, no penalties will be applied.

Read these next:

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

Much-debated Cheltenham changes: are they good (or bad) for racing or just good (or bad) for you? 

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