Ruby Walsh: Cheltenham changes will improve entire National Hunt season

Ruby Walsh expects the changes to the Cheltenham Festival programme to bolster competitiveness and field sizes beyond just the four days in the Cotswolds.

A series of significant changes to the Cheltenham Festival race programme have been announced as the track seeks to improve competitiveness at the National Hunt highlight.

From 2025, the two-and-a-half-mile Turners Novices' Chase will be replaced by a Grade Two limited novice handicap chase over the same trip, while the National Hunt Chase, which has been contested by amateur riders, will be open to professionals and become a novice handicap chase for horses rated 0-145.

Jon Pullin, head of racing and clerk of the course at Cheltenham, said: "We have had to acknowledge that due to the restrictions that were previously applied to the race, there was a limited pool of riders available to ride in it, so this looks the right opportunity to open it up to professionals as well.

"Amateur jockeys are a key part of the Festival and we are obviously keen to ensure they continue to have opportunities to ride over the four days. Both the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase and St James’s Place Festival Hunters’ Chase will continue to be restricted to amateurs.

"It is hoped that by creating two novice handicap chases, we will have two competitive races with large fields and encourage the top novice chasers of the season to go down the Graded route in the My Pension Expert Arkle and the Brown Advisory."

The Glenfarclas Cross County Chase will also move from a conditions race to a limited handicap, with Pullin citing the domination in recent years of former top performers such as Delta Work and dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll as the reason for the contest’s return to its initial