the national hunt chase.

​When it comes to horse racing, I tend naturally to veer toward traditionalism, if inconsistently at times. I champion radical ideas of my own invention when I believe change to be of benefit to the sport and I remain convinced, to give such an example, that a 40-runner Lincoln Handicap started from a barrier would invest the start of the flat season with an oomph that is badly required and elevate the Lincoln from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Why the National Hunt Chase held such prestige is unknown to me. It was, and remained until comparatively recently, a maiden chase, and in the early years of the Gold Cup it had precedence when it came to rescheduling the meeting if bad weather caused postponements. In some years the Gold Cup was abandoned altogether while the National Hunt Chase was staged at a later date. Up to the mid- thirties only the Grand National was of greater value and importance to the jumping fraternity.
Although I value tradition and am saddened and maddened by the constant change in race titles due to the hostage-taking of sponsors with no concept of sporting heritage and historical record, I can bend with the wind as well as anyone. On some issues, though, I sternly resist the wind. For example: if I or anyone were to set-out to write a history of what was the Hennessey but is now the Ladbroke Trophy, what would the book be titled. A history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup would have that as its title. The same with the Grand National. But a book on the Hennessey/Ladbroke Trophy would have to be called ‘That 3-mile 2-furlong Handicap Chase run at Newbury in late November or Occasionally Early December’. The race may be ‘registered’, whatever that means, as The Newbury Steeplechase or something similar but no one would recognise it as such.
But to return to the fate of the National Hunt Chase. The sight, though, of four, or was it five, screens erected around Cheltenham after this year’s renewal of the National Hunt Chase, even if only one horse perished, and the subsequent punishments metered out to three jockeys, although I hope common-sense prevails and one is overturned, has removed my support from the diehard traditionalists who would want the race to remain unchanged, a race for amateurs, the amateur riders Grand National, as it was once referred to, I believe.
Changing the distance or the conditions of the race, in this age of professionalism and close public scrutiny, are, in my opinion, only solutions of the sticking plaster order. As I said, for the majority of its longevity the National Hunt Chase was a race for maidens, so it’s not like traditionalists are protecting the race in its original form. To my way of thinking, and killing two birds with one stone as far as I am concerned, I would elevate the race to championship status.
The heartland of steeplechasing is the long-distance chase. From the Grand National to the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and all the regional Nationals here and in Ireland, any race with the word ‘National’ in its title is a race of distinction and the main race of the day. Yet there is no championship race for the long-distance chaser, as there was not for a long time in chasing’s history no 2-mile championship race.
The Cheltenham Festival is above all else a race meeting that defines champions. It is a race meeting that demands quality, the best horses over a variety of distance and obstacle. The most ardent of its supporters cannot claim the National Hunt Chase is a bringer of high quality to the meeting. Its only real claim is that it allows the top amateur riders a moment in the spotlight, yet they already have two other opportunities at the meeting to display their riding skills. It could be argued that if Cheltenham is jumping’s equivalent to the Olympics, an analogy I detest as the two events have no similarities, the pinnacle of our racing year, it might be thought absurd to have any race restricted to amateurs.
The National Hunt Chase should be restricted to professional riders and be retitled the National Hunt 4-mile Champion Chase, even if it is run over 3-miles, 7-furlongs and a few yards more.
If not next season but the season after, it would be a logical race for the likes of Native River, Anibale Fly, Elegant Escape or even Tiger Roll. And if Cheltenham and Aintree could be kept 4-weeks apart it would also be a valuable prep race for aspiring Grand National horses.
As with the other championship races at Cheltenham, the 4-mile Champion Chase would have good renewals and poorer renewals, so any argument along the lines of ‘what would have run in it this year’ is not valid. Only the decades will have any say on determining whether it adds or distracts from the Festival.