Golden Miller Novices’ Chase

The race registered as the Golden Miller Novices’ Chase was added to the Cheltenham Festival in 2011 and was run most recently, in its original guise, as the Grade 1 Turners’ Novices’ Chase in 2024. However, from 2025 onwards, that race has been discontinued and replaced by the new Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase. The latter is still scheduled as the second race on St. Patrick’s Thursday, still run on the New Course, but over approximately a furlong further than its predecessor, at two miles and four and a half furlongs, and still open to horses aged five years and upwards. To qualify, horses must have started in a minimum of three chases in Great Britain, Ireland or France.

Aside from a slight increase in distance, the Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase has been downgraded to a Grade 2 event and, as the name suggests, is now a limited handicap with weights ranging between 11st 12lb and 10st 6lb. Willie Mullins, with four winners – Sir Des Champs (2012), Vautour (2015), Black Hercules (2016) and Yorkhill (2017) – was the most successful trainer in the race in its previous incarnation, but what effect the signficant changes to the conditions have on future trends remains to be seen. Essentially, those changes were introduced to create a more competitive alternative to the other Grade 1 novice chases during the week, namely the Arkle Novices’ Chase, over two miles, and the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, over three.