The JLT Novices’ Chase, registered as
the Golden Miller Novices’ Chase, is run over 2 miles 4 furlongs on
the New Course at Cheltenham and is currently scheduled as the
opening race on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival. As the name
suggests, the race is open to novice chasers – that is, horses that
have not won a steeplechase prior to the start of the current seasons
– aged five years and upwards.
The JLT Novices’ Chase is a recent
addition to the Cheltenham Festival programme, having been run for
the first time in 2011, when it was sponsored by builders’
merchants Jewson. In 2014, global insurance broker Jardine Lloyd
Thompson (JLT) Group plc took over sponsorship of the race,
which was upgraded to Grade One status by the British Horseracing
Authority.
Irish champion trainer Willie
Mullins has dominated the JLT Novices’ Chase in its short
history, having saddled Sir Des Champs (2012), Vautour (2015) and
Black Hercules (2016) for a total of three wins in six years. Ruby
Walsh, who rode Vautour and Black Hercules, is the leading jockey
with two wins.
Both Sir Des Champs and Vautour
returned to the Cheltenham Festival the following year, the former
finishing second to Bobs Worth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the
latter running out a very comfortable winner of the Ryanair Chase.
Black Hercules was Ruby Walsh’s 50th winner at the Cheltenham
Festival and is currently quoted at a top-priced 33/1 for the 2017
renewal of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
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