Jockey Club confirms change to Cheltenham Festival as ‘traditional’ feature is canned
THE Cheltenham Festival and Aintree’s Grand National meeting will look different next season.
The Jockey Club confirmed on Tuesday that their two biggest racecourses will have new hurdles in place for the start of the season in October.
It means punters will now be backing horses in the likes of the Champion Hurdle, Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle over new ‘padded’ obstacles.
These will replace the traditional birch jumps after data showed padded hurdles are safer.
Statistics from the Industry Jump Racing Risk Model revealed an 11 per cent reduction in the risk of falling in races run over padded hurdles compared to birch ones.
While vets and trainers said minor injuries horses suffered such as cuts and scrapes were ‘substantially reduced’ in the new models.
A statement added: “Padded hurdles are already in use at Exeter (since 2016), Market Rasen (since 2022) and Wincanton (since 2018).
“Both Aintree and Cheltenham will have padded hurdles in place by October this year, in time for the new season, meaning that hurdle races at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival and 2025 Randox Grand National Festival will take place over padded hurdles rather than traditional birch hurdles.”
Jon Pullin, The Jockey Club’s Group Head of Racing and Clerk of the Course at Cheltenham, said: “Following extensive research and analysis, it is evident that padded hurdles provide a safer alternative to traditional birch hurdles, while still presenting the same jumping challenge and spectacle for racing fans.
“Having been successfully utilised at some of our racecourses from as far back as 2016, we feel it is the right decision to deploy padded hurdles at all 11 of The Jockey Club’s racecourses which stage Jump racing.
“This process will require significant investment by The Jockey Club and will be completed in time for the start of the 2026-27 season.”
The Jockey Club will roll out the change at all 11 of its jumps racecourses.
The transition to padded hurdles will be complete by the start of the 2026-27 season.
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