Day Two of The Festival has another seven races to enjoy. The feature race of the day is The Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase, a race in which we saw Altior produce a record-breaking performance of 19 consecutive Jump races, including regaining the Queen Mother Champion Chase title at The Festival™.
The Ballymore Novices' Hurdle is a Grade 1 hurdle race run on the Old Course over a distance of about 2m 5f. Horses aged four and older can enter and with 10 hurdles to jump.
It's the premier race during the Jump racing season for novice hurdlers. It's historically been won by Istabraq and Faugheen who went onto win the Unibet Champion Hurdle the following season.
The Brown Advisory Novices' Chase is a Grade 1 Chase run on the Old Course over a distance of 3m abt ½f and open to horses aged five and older. There are 20 fences jumped.
The Coral Cup Hurdle is a Grade 3 race, open to horses aged four years or older. It's run on the Old Course over a distance of 2m abt 5f with 10 hurdles jumped. It was introduced to The Cheltenham Festival in 1993.
The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase is a 3m 6f race run on the Cross Country course. It's open to horses aged five years and older who have 32 obstacles to jump.
The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase is a Grade 3 chase run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 2m abt ½f with 14 fences to be jumped. Open to horses aged five years and older. It is the oldest race at The Cheltenham Festival, dating back to 1864 when it was run in Andoversford. From the 1900s, the race was run at Warwick, Leicester, and Melton Mowbry before returning to Cheltenham in 1913.
Why is it called Johnny Henderson? The race is named after trainer Nicky Henderson's father. In the early 1960s, he realised that Cheltenham Racecourse was attracting the interest of property developers, and to save its future, Johnny and other Jockey Club members formed the Racecourse Holdings Trust and raised £240,000 to purchase the venue.
The Weatherbys Champion Bumper is a Grade 1 flat race for horses aged four - six years. The race is run on the Old Course over a distance of 2m abt ½f.
The race was initially called the Festival Bumper when first established in 1992. The Weatherbys Champion Bumper is the most prestigious flat race, in the Jump racing calendar and the only race throughout the meeting in which no obstacles are jumped. Entering in the Champion Bumper is an opportunity for horses who are yet to begin their Jumping career. A race you won't want to miss!
