IT seems apt that a week in which a bunch of inflated handicaps took centre stage, that the main racing news of the week should have been about the Cheltenham Festival, with two major announcements being made early this week.

The first, following a review of the latest controversial running of the National Hunt Chase in which only four horses finished, with two of those very tired after four miles on soft ground, was not unexpected. The National Hunt Chase, the original feature of the Cheltenham Festival, is to be reduced in distance to a trip short of four miles for the first time in its history.

Restrictions

The new trip will be three miles, five furlongs, 201 yards, which although not a drastic reduction, will annoy the absolute traditionalists. In addition, there are further restrictions on the competitors, both equine and human, with prospective runners needing to have run in at least two chases (not necessarily novice chases as stated elsewhere), attaining a BHA rating of 120 or more, in line with the Grade 1 novice chases at the meeting. They have to have finished fourth or better in a chase over three miles or more, rounded down to the nearest half furlong, as is the case for Grand National qualification. Horses must also have raced at least once over fences in the current season.

Riders must have ridden at least five winners over fences, from a minimum of 20 rides, excluding point-to-point successes. These changes would have ruled out previous winners of the race, but it is only fair to point out that those previous winners, both horses and riders, largely failed to qualify as there was no need to, and setting a bar in terms of quality should not have a negative impact on any worthy competitor.

Mares’ chase

The other news is that there will, as has been mooted by the track, be a chase restricted to mares at the 2021 festival, but since there is no desire to increase the scope of the festival’s total number of races, one current contest will have to be lost. One wag pointed out that if you looked at the 29 races currently slated for the 2021 festival, and decided to get rid of one, it would have to be the mares’ chase.

In all seriousness, though, it is obvious why such a race is being developed, and leading trainers, breeders etc will be in favour of further bolstering of the programme for high-class National Hunt mares. Races restricted to mares will be at the bottom of the quality spectrum, and they will be unpopular with the hard-core festival devotees, but other than argue that they should be run at a different meeting, we have to accept that they are going to a part of future festival fabric.

So what should give way?

There have been some truly terrible takes on this, with suggestions that the mares’ novice hurdle or the Cross Country should go. Neither of these is a goer for a second, and the criteria for removing races shouldn’t be that individuals don’t like them, but how they fit the current fabric of the championship meeting.

One thing which stands out in the modern age is the number of races for amateur riders, which is a throwback to the days when the meeting was largely framed for military and gentlemen riders. Those days are gone, and while the Kim Muir is the obvious race to cut, another really controversial option would be to move the Foxhunter to Cheltenham’s hunter chase fixture. It should be remembered that this has effectively been done before, when the United Hunts Challenge Cup, which was run over the Gold Cup course and distance, was cut from the festival, and the Foxhunter, until then a four-mile contest, had its distance reduced to the one currently used.

Moving to late April or early May would still allow the Cheltenham/Aintree double to be attempted, but in reverse order.

It’s bound to cause a furore, but if you want to make the Cheltenham Festival more representative of the modern era, while simultaneously providing a fitting spectacle for true National Hunt aficionados, then moving the Foxhunter to become the highlight of a hunter chase fixture is an absolute no-brainer.