I’VE been asked a few times recently if I can explain what the qualification criteria are for handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival, and while I think I can, it appears that there is conflicting information in the public domain which means the question isn’t so easily resolved.

When I found that my interpretation was different to that of an authority such as Ruby Walsh this morning, I decided I needed to dig deeper.

Generic qualification criteria are published in the BHA’s Weights & Handicapping Code, which in itself isn’t very easy to find (try googling it), but it’s possible for racecourses to have other criteria for specific races on top of the BHA rules.

For example, some races have a clause that specifies that to qualify for a race, runners must have run in one of a series of qualifiers, such as the Pertemps Series, and within that particular race, horses must have achieved a certain position in one of those qualifying races.

The eligibility criteria for jumps races as set out in Paragraph 15 of the Weights & Handicapping Code is set out below – note the distinction between novices and non-novices:

15: A Novice or Juvenile shall be eligible for a Handicap Rating to run in a Class 1 or 2 Handicap Steeple Chase only if:

Here are the conditions of qualification taken from last year’s Coral Cup as an example of how this was interpreted as recently as the latest Cheltenham Festival:

‘PLEASE NOTE: A novice or juvenile horse shall only be qualified to run in this race if it has run a minimum of four times in Hurdle races in Great Britain, Ireland or France in accordance with paragraph 15 of the Weights and Handicapping Code.’

So far so clear, but when Cheltenham announced a change to the criteria, now requiring horses running in non-novice handicaps at the Festival to have an extra run compared to previous years, the Press Release was worded thus:

‘Currently horses must have run at least three times (chases) or four times (hurdles) to be eligible to run in non-novice handicaps at The Festival. From 2025, this will be increased to four chase and five hurdle runs.’

The fact that the release no longer refers to novices but to horses suggests to some – and this was Ruby’s feeling – that the criteria applies to all horses, and not just novices and/or juveniles, but I think the wording is just as likely to be a simple error.

The word “current” is key here, as the current wording of the relevant paragraph of the Weights & Handicapping code does still refer to novices and juveniles.

Those with long memories may recall Aux Ptits Soins winning the Coral Cup a decade ago having only raced twice over hurdles previously.

Those runs came the previous season and one of them was a win, so he wasn’t a novice. That was something I asked Graeme Smith at the BHA to clarify at the time and he mentioned that the rule was worded correctly and that Aux Ptits Soins wasn’t taking advantage of an accidental loophole.

If so, there is no reason to think that that rule will have been changed, but there clearly remains some confusion.

Cross Country

While I’m on this tack, does anybody know what the minimum weight will be for the new Cross Country Steeplechase? That isn’t published either and as the Cross Country isn’t a Grade 2, the usual rules for the framing of such races don’t apply. We shouldn’t be guessing at this stage (11st 10lb to 10st 5lb appears to be the answer, but where do you find it)? This would not occur if Cheltenham and/or the BHA decided to publish in advance the full running order of races for Cheltenham in March with an unambiguous set of qualification criteria for all those races.

When the entries are made for the races, the conditions can be found in Weatherby’s Racing Calendar, but this is the biggest meeting of the year by far, in which people take a betting interest months in advance, and trainers presumably enter horses based on the information sent to them.

Making all that information easier to find and producing it in a timely manner on a public forum would make this so much easier. Is that too much to ask?