Day Two At The Festival

The first race of day two of this year’s Cheltenham Festival, which runs from 16th – 19th March, is the National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup. The race starts at 13:30 and is a four miler for novice chasers of five years and above. All the jockeys that ride in this race are amateurs, which is what makes it an unusual and unique race. On top of this it is a difficult race for the under seven year old horses to win, as they have not yet accrued the stamina necessary to win the longest race at the Cheltenham Festival. It is worth looking out for horses with experience with the Cheltenham fences and Jonjo O’Neill is the trainer to watch in this event, having won four out of the last eight renewals.

The following race is the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle, a two mile five furlong race which begins at 14:05. It is a race for four years and older novice hurdlers which was introduced in 1971 as the Aldsworth Hurdle, and in more recent times has been run as the Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle and the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle. It has been speculated that horses best suited to this race are those that have shown previous ability and are aged five or six years.

The next race is the RSA Steeple Chase, being held at 14:40. This is the first year that the race is being run with the current title – in 1997 it was called the Royal SunAlliance Chase and the Royal & SunAlliance Chase up to 2009. From 1971 – 1973 the Foxhunter Chase was known as the Sun Alliance & London Foxhunters. SunAlliance have sponsored races at Cheltenham for 26 years in total. A three mile half furlong race featuring nineteen fences, it is open to five years or older novice chasers. The race is one that is fiercely contested by some of the top national hunt stables, but it has been noted that the winners rarely go on to win feature races at the Cheltenham Festival later in their careers.

The Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase kicks off at 15:20. A race of just two miles, this is the feature race of the second day of the meeting. It usually has fewer entrants than the rest of the races and winners at big prices are uncommon. Last year the race was won by Paul Nicholls-trained Master Minded, ridden by Ruby Walsh.
The two mile five furlong Coral Cup (Handicap Hurdle) starts at 16:00 on the second day of the Festival. This race is a grade three handicap hurdle open to horses five years and above, and there are usually a lot of competitors, resulting in the race being difficult for favourites – in the past 16 years only once has the favourite won.

The Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle starts at 16:40 on the day, and is a race for horses four years and under. As they are just novices this race is perfect for improving horses and getting them to target small obstacles, before they try out bigger fences. There are usually approximately twenty runners in this race and it is a handicap so it is good to check out who has won their race preceding Cheltenham to find out which horses are on form.

The Weatherbys Champion Bumper (Open NH Flat Race) is the final race of day two of the festival and is the only race at the Festival without hurdles. It is therefore a flat race with National Hunt rules over two miles. The Irish have won fifteen times out of eighteen in this race so are a force to be reckoned with!