Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (The Broadway) – Ladies Day

A race at the Cheltenham Festival that may well be better known by its former name, which is unfortunate for the new sponsors, Brown Advisory.

The Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase is a long-distance novice chase, run over three miles with a total of 19 fences to jump. It’s a place where we can see Cheltenham Gold Cup contenders emerge as real stars.

Officially, this race is registered as the Broadway Novices’ Chase, which it was called in the early days, pre-1960s. In 2021, this was registered as the official name once again.

However, ask any seasoned racing fan, and this race is known as the RSA Chase, after the sponsors who backed this race impressively from 1974 until 2020.

A stamina test with good jumping required, as well as a little bit at the end to get up the hill and win.

Race Facts

Run over three miles and one furlong, this race has twenty fences that the novice chasers taking part in it must jump. It’s open to horses aged five or over, with five year olds allowed a weight of eleven stone three pound. Six year olds and upwards can have eleven stone seven pound, whilst mares are given a seven pounds allowance.

As with all the races apart from the final one on Day Two, this is run left-handed on the Old Course.

Previous Winners

Race Trivia

Because this is a race for novices, no horse has ever won it more than once as, by winning it, they preclude themselves from taking part in it in the future. That’s not the case for jockeys and Pat Taaffe is the leading person on that front with his five victories. Some well-known jockeys such as Richard Dunwoody, Harry Cobden and Ruby Walsh have won it twice, whilst others like Peter Scudamore and Davy Russell have won it three times.  In 2020 Barry Geraghty won it for the fourth time.

When it comes to the best trainers, it’s a tie. Fulke Walwyn and Nicky Henderson have won it four times and Willie Mullins holds the record with eight wins. Fulke Walwyn did so before the 1960s, with one of his wins coming when the race was split into two ‘divisions’ in the 1940s. That practice ceased in 1951, but to be fair to Walwyn, his second and third victories came in 1954 and 1957. Fred Winter, Peter Cazalet, Paul Nicholls and Tom Dreaper have all come closest to equalling the record as all of them have won it three times.

When Lord Windemere won the race in 2013 and then went on to win the Gold Cup the following year, he became the latest in a line of horses to achieve that most remarkable of doubles. One of the Gold Cup’s most famous winners, Arkle, achieved his first win at the Festival back in 1963 before going on to lift the meeting’s most famous trophy every year for the following three years. Since records began in 1946 the race has only not run twice, once in 2001 when the whole Festival was cancelled because of Foot-and-Mouth and once in 1947 because of heavy snow and frost.

A Novice Chase for Future Gold Cup Runners

As mentioned, this is the novice chase where you’ll see potential Gold Cup runners of the future. For that reason, I think it is one of the most eagerly anticipated novice races of the entire meeting, as we know that we could be seeing potential big race horses of the future.

The Gold Cup is an additional two furlongs compared to this race, but that’s something that most horses can handle as they mature.

In total, nine horses have won this race and then gone on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup later in their career.

The most recent of those was Lord Windermere, who won this contest in 2013 and then landed the Gold Cup a year later in 2014.

Other notable runners to do the double include Denman in recent years, while when you go back further in history, the great Arkle did the double. He would actually land three consecutive Gold Cup victories the year after winning this race.

The other horses to have won both races are Mandarin, Ten Up, Master Smudge, Garrison Savannah, Looks Like Trouble and Bobs Worth.

Races That Could Proceed the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase

If you’re wondering where horses for the future could appear over hurdles, before they come to this race as a novice chaser, then there are two options at the festival.

The first is a race that’s run before this contest, and that’s the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle, which is over slightly shorter at 2m5f. However, plenty of horses do go up a little in trip when moving from hurdles to fences, which makes the stepping stone easier.

Secondly, a race on the final day of the meeting, the Spa Novices’ Hurdle. This is run over the same trip as the Brown Advisory, around three miles.

There is a small difference between the two as they are run on different courses, but moving from hurdles to fences means this isn’t as noticeable. However, just so punters are aware, the Turners Novices’ Hurdle is run on the same course as the Brown Advisory, the old course, while the Albert Bartlett is run on the new course.