Festival Trials Day 28th January 2023

Race 1 - SSS Super Alloys Handicap Hurdle - 12:15

Festival Trials Day definitely starts with a bang rather than a whimper, courtesy of this Class 2 race that takes place over two miles and one-hundred and seventy-nine yards (2m, 179y). The race is another handicap affair, meaning that horses carry the weights dictated to them by the handicapper.

There are eight hurdles that they’ll need to cope with if they’re hoping to get home the quickest, with entrants for the race needing to be four or over. The field normally consists of around ten horses, so you’ll be able to get a real sense of which of them can cope with running alongside other animals in a high-profile environment.

Race 2 - JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle - 12:45

Festival Trials Day doesn’t mess around when it comes to the order of the races, getting things started with a real bang. Known as the JCB Triumph Hurdle, this is a Grade 2 race that take place on the Cheltenham New Course. It’s for novice hurdlers and lasts for two miles and one-hundred and seventy-nine yards (2m, 179y). There are eight hurdles to be jumped during the course of the race and it’s open to four-year-olds only.

First established in 1985, this is the race that people watch to get some indications about the Triumph Hurdle in the Festival proper. Don’t be lulled into thinking that the winner of this is nailed on to win the Triumph Hurdle, however - only two horses have done the double at the time of writing. Katchit pulled that off in 2007 before Defi Du Seuil repeated the trick in 2017. Robert Thornton managed three back-to-back wins in 2007, 2008 and 2009, having already won the race in 2003. That makes him the race’s joint-best jockey with Barry Geraghty, who has also won it four times.

Race 3 - Novices' Handicap Chase - 13:20

Lasting for two miles, four furlongs and one-hundred and twenty-seven yards (2m, 4f, 127y), the Novices’ Handicap Chase is, as the name suggests, a handicap race for novice chasers. As with the other races on Festival Trials Day, it takes place on the New Course at Cheltenham. It had seventeen fences that must be negotiated and is a Class 2 race.

Open for five-year-olds and older, there are no weight restrictions in place on account of the fact that this is a handicap race. There are a number of handicap chases during the Festival that this race could tell you something about, most notably the Novices' Handicap Chase on Day One of the meeting.

Race 4 - Trophy Handicap Chase - 13:55

Known as the Murphy Group Chase until 2004, this Grade 3 steeplechase was established in 1993 and was briefly sponsored by a free bets website from 2014 until 2016. It is run over two miles, four furlongs and one-hundred and one-hundred and twenty-seven yards (2m, 4f, 127y). It features seventeen fences and is open to horses aged five and over. As with the race that came before, race number three on Festival Trials Day is a handicap endeavour.

The race achieved Listed status back in 2002, back when it had the title of the Ladbroke Trophy Chase, being upgraded to Grade 3 three years later. Three horses have won the race more than once, all of them after the turn of the millennium. The Sawyer won back-to-back races in 2009 and 2010, with Wishfull Thinking winning in 2011 and 2014. Annacotty also had back-to-back victories in 2015 and 2016, interestingly with different jockeys and trainers on both occasions.

In terms of jockeys, Norman Williamson has managed two wins, whilst Richard Johnson added a win on Young Spartacus to his victories with Wishful Thinking. Philip Hobbs was the trainer of both of the horses that Johnson won on, making him the most successful trainer thanks to those three wins. Bob Buckler, The Sawyers trainer, along with Venetia Williams, Nigel Twiston-Davies and Nick Williams are the only other trainers to win the race more than once.

Race 5 - Trial Cotswold Chase - 14:30

This Grade 2 race is open to horses aged five and over. It lasts for three miles and one and a half furlongs (3m, 1f, 56y), with twenty-one fences to be jumped during that time. In many ways this is the feature race of the day, serving as something of a pointer race for the Gold Cup that will be run during the Festival. Don’t be surprised, therefore, if you see countless people studying the form guide and making notes on the outcome. If the winner doesn’t do well in the Gold Cup then consider it for the Grand National, with Many Clouds winning this one in 2015 before finishing first in the Aintree race later that year.

In terms of previous winners, ‘Abandoned because of frost’ has its name in the record books the most times as it happened in 1987, 1992 and 1996. As for the horses, the aforementioned Many Clouds had two victories before sadly passing away after winning the race in 2017. See More Business is the only other horse to win it more than once, with victories coming in 1998 and 2001. A number of jockeys have won it more than once, including Colin Brown, Nico de Boinville and Leighton Aspell, but it’s Steve Smith Eccles and Tony McCoy who share the honour of most wins for a jockey with three apiece.

There’s no question that there’s one stand-out leader when it comes to trainers, despite the fact that both David Elsworth and Oliver Sherwood have both been behind two victories in the race. That is nothing when compared to Paul Nicholls’s four wins, however. He was behind both of See More Business’s victories as well as Taranis in 2010 and Neptune Collonges the following year. The latter then went on to become another horse to win the Grand National after the Cotswold Chase, doing so in 2012.

You might think there’d be more multiple winners of a race that was first run in 1980 as the Tote Double Chase but there you go.  It is notable that Nicky Henderson trained the first ever winner in 1980 and then didn't win again for 40 years, getting his second and third victories in 2020 and 2022.  In 2021 the race was held at Sandown due to the cancellation of Festival Trials Day due to flooding.

Race 6 - Cleeve Hurdle - 15:05

The next race on Festival Trials Day is the Cleeve Hurdle, named after the highest point in Gloucestershire, Cleeve Hill. It is a Grade 2 race that lasts for two miles, seven furlongs and two-hundred and thirteen yards (2m, 7f, 213y). It is open to horses aged five and over and normally features a field of about ten competitors. There are twelve hurdles that the horses will need to get over if they’re hoping to be in the lead when they cross the finish line.

Established in 1983, it earned Listed status by the end of that decade and was had the full title of the Bishops Cleeve Hurdle. It became a Grade 1 race in 1991 and then downgraded to Grade 2 back in 2004. Originally ran over two miles, five furlongs and one-hundred and ten yards, the length was extended in 2005. Horses that do well in this race tend to go on to compete in the Stayers' Hurdle during the Festival, with the most obvious examples of horses to do the double being Big Buck’s, Inglis Drever, Thistlecrack and Paisley Park.

Three horses have ever won this race more than once.  Most recently Paisley Park with back-to-back wins in 2019, 2020 and 2022, then Big Buck’s getting two wins in 2009 and 2012, well after Lady Rebecca’s three wins in a row between 1999 and 2001. Lady Rebecca’s jockey on all three occasions was Norman Williamson, who also won on Mudahim in 1995 to make him the race’s most successful jockey. Richard Johnson, Ruby Walsh, Tom Scudamore and Tony McCoy have all won the race twice and Aidan Coleman three times back-to-back.

When it comes to trainers and their relative success in this race Alan King, David Elsworth, Howard Johnson and Nick Williams have all managed two wins over the years. There are three trainers who have gone one better than all of them though, given that Emma Lavelle, Paul Nicholls and Venetia Williams have all managed hat-tricks of wins. If you wanted to be picky you could point out that Williams’s wins all came with lady Rebecca, Lavelle's wins all came with Paisley Park, whilst Nicholls managed his with both Big Buck’s and Saphir Du Rheu.

Race 7 - Ballymore Classic Novices' Hurdle - 15:40

This Grade 2 hurdle race is for horses four-years-old and above. It lasts for two miles and four and a half furlongs (2m, 4f, 56y), with ten hurdles for the horses to negotiate during that distance. As the name suggests, the race is for novice hurdlers, meaning that no horse has won it more than once. When it comes to jockeys, both Wayne Hutchinson and Tony McCoy have won it twice, but the standout leader is Barry Geraghty with his four victories.

When it comes to talking about successful trainers, it’s interesting to note that only two of them have won it more than once and they’ve both won it four times. Alan King won it for the first time with Batonnier in 2012 before registering back-to-back victories in 2015 and 2016 and again in 2022, whilst Nicky Henderson first won it in 2008 then did so again three years later before claiming his third victory in 2018 and fourth in 2019. First run in 2005, this race can be seen as a precursor to the Spa Novices Hurdle that takes place during the week of the Cheltenham Festival. Wichita Lineman and Bobs Worth are two horses that have managed that double, for example.

Race 8 - Mares' Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race - 16:15

As with many Cheltenham meetings the day ends with a standard open flat race for 4-6 year old horses.  Naturally there are no fences to be jumped but at two and a quarter miles it is still a fair distance to run on the flat and this requires horses and jockeys to judge their speed to know when to kick on.  The race will take around 4 minutes on good ground.

The class 1 race is the only listed race on Festival Trails Day and due to the higher than usual grade for a flat race the prize money is also decent.  The race, established in 2018, usually takes place at Market Rasen but has been moved to Festival Trails Day for 2022 due to the meeting being abandoned on 21st January. It is named in honour of the trainer Alan Swinbank who died in 2017, he trained 25 winners at Market Rasen with a strike rate of 27%.

The addition of a bumper to the card could, however, become a permanent fixture of the meeting, judging by other meetings open flat races are very much liked to end the days at Cheltenham.