Star Sports ambassadors Harry Skelton and Davy Russell have commented on the changes to the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, most notably the news of the Turners Novices’ Chase being downgraded to a handicap from a Grade 1.
Skelton, who won the most recent renewal of the Turners this year on Grey Dawning, said:
“It was fantastic to win the Turners. This was the race for Grey Dawning because we felt 2m 4f at Cheltenham was the right distance for him at the track. Cheltenham is a unique place, it’s not just as easy as saying we’ll run him over 3m or drop him back to 2m because novices are novices for a reason – they’re inexperienced and it’s vital you make the right decisions for them at this stage of their careers.
Losing a Grade 1 a worry
While plenty within racing have welcomed the move to downgrade the Turners, on the theory that less options for top novice chasers will mean more heavyweight clashes in the Arkle and the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, Skelton is less sure of that need for change.
“Now with the race becoming a handicap, while I’m sure it’s going to open up with more runners and generate more betting, what happens to top-class 2m4f novices that don’t fit into the Arkle or Brown Advisory? They now don’t have an option at the Cheltenham Festival. It’s sad really, because I think the Cheltenham Festival should be about the best horses in Grade 1s.
“What does ‘competitiveness’ mean? Does that just mean having 16 runners? If Grey Dawning and Ginny’s Destiny had been the only two runners in the Turners last year, would that have been a competitive race and fun to watch? That’s exactly what it was.
“I’d like to know now what they’d like to do with the middle-distance horses that are Grade 1 level. Had there not been a Grade 1 option at Cheltenham last year we probably would have waited for Aintree with Grey Dawning. Why would we drop down or step up in trip? We want to give our owners the best chance, and if you’ve got a top-class 2m4f horse then you want to be winning Grade 1s.
“Now with 2m4f novice chasers people might consider missing Cheltenham and wait for Aintree, but that shouldn’t be the case because Cheltenham is the Olympics of our sport and these types of races should be there to compete in. There are lots of handicaps at all distances on offer and they have the right qualifications for novices to run in so I’m not sure why we need another handicap at the Festival.”
Russell makes case for change
Russell, who has won the race twice on Sir Des Champs (2012) and Samcro (2020), conversely had some positive thoughts to share on the changes:
“Changing the Turners to a handicap race will not only provide a bigger and more competitive field but it will also add strength to the two other novice championship races in the Arkle and the Brown Advisory.”
Talking on the changes to the Cross Country Chase, Russell added:
“To me, it’s more about adding strength to the Gold Cup Horses. If it’s a handicap, more will likely run in the Gold Cup than concede lumps of weight to other horses in conditions races.
“If the race is more competitive, it will be a more enjoyable spectacle for punters with a bigger field increasing the chances for other smaller yards to have a crack at winning a Festival prize.
“Overall, I think the changes are a real positive for the sport.”
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