Turners Novices’ Hurdle (Baring Bingham) – Ladies Day

There are a few races at the Cheltenham Festival that are known by different names, and this is definitely one of them, due to sponsorship deals and official names that few people use.

Currently known as the Turners Novices’ Hurdle, named after the sponsors, it is officially recognised as the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle.

However, thanks to a long and successful sponsorship period, the race is perhaps more commonly known as the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, despite that sponsorship coming to an end.

Whatever you call it, this 2m5f novice hurdle has seen some top-quality winners over the past few years. If there’s a future Cheltenham Gold Cup horse somewhere in a novice hurdle during their younger days, this is the race you’re most likely to see them in.

It’s the opening contest on day two of the Cheltenham Festival, and a great, high-quality way to kick things off as it’s the first Grade One on the day.

Race Facts

Previous Winners

The race lasts for two miles and five furlongs, with horses needing to make it over ten hurdles if they’re hoping to emerge victorious. It’s a Grade 1 race and is open to horses aged four and up. As with most Day Two races, it’s run left-handed around the Old Course.

Weight-wise four-year-olds can be ten stone nine pounds and five-year-olds or older can be eleven stone seven pound. There’s a seven pound allowance for both fillies and mares. As you may well have established from the title, it’s a race for novices.

Race Trivia

As with other races for novices, this has never been won by the same horse more than once for obvious reasons. There’s something of a link between the most successful jockeys and the most successful trainer, with both Ruby Walsh and Paul Townend winning this four times each and on all occasions for Willie Mullins.  That means the legendary trainer has eight wins in this race including three back to back – 2022 with Sir Gerhard, in 2023 with Impaire Et Passe and in 2024 with Ballymore.

It all began in 2008 when Walsh and Mullins saw Fiveforthree make it across the finishing line first, then they followed it up the next year with Mikael d’Haguenet. Faugheen was the winner in 2014 for the pair and their four wins to date were rounded off by Yorkhill in 2016. Interestingly, plenty of trainers including Oliver Sherwood, Martin Pipe and Edward O’Grady have trained winning horses on two occasions, but only Nigel Twiston-Davies has managed to train three winners, obviously apart from Mullins.

When Rachael Blackmore won the race in 2021, riding the Henry de Bromhead trained Bob Olinger, she became the first female jockey to win the race.  That was only a day after she became the first woman jockey to win the Champion Hurdle.

Since its inauguration in 1971, the race has only been called off once. Even that was back in 2001, when the entire Cheltenham Festival was cancelled because of the outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth disease. There is one other year of note as far as the race’s running is concerned, however; back in 2008 the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle, as it was called then, was ran on the New Course because of high winds on the Old Course when it was supposed to be run.

Race Named after Cheltenham Festival Creator

I’ve already mentioned three names for this race, and the official name, the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle, might actually be the least used of those.

However, it is a name with great Cheltenham Festival history behind it, dating all the way back to the beginning.

Baring Bingham was a developer. He bought Prestbury Park, the land on which the racecourse is situated, in 1898.

After creating the course, he took things a step further in a bid to improve the racing at the track. In 1902, he created what would be the first-ever Cheltenham Festival to be held.

The man who started it all off, the developer behind the racecourse, a huge name in the history of horse racing, and the name of a race that many of us never actually use.

Baring Bingham to Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase

The first two races on day two are the perfect connection for horses that are graduating from hurdling to chasing in the novice division and wanting to go over a longer trip.

The Baring Bingham is over 2m5f, so just over middle distance, while the Brown Advisory Chase is over 3m, so needs horses to want to move up in distance as they go chasing.

On day one of the festival, we have the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle up first, and this race perfectly leads some horses into the Arkle Chase, straight after it on the same day.

For horses needing more than two and a half miles, this is an option over hurdles, and then the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase is the option for fences.

Having said this, no horse has actually ever completed the double and won them both, despite a few trying.