The Turners Novices’ Chase is the opening race on Day 3 of the Festival and thus the first race to be run on the New Course.
Established in 2011, its registered title is the Golden Miller Novices' Chase.
First sponsored by Jewson and then known as both the JLT and the Marsh Novices' Chase, Turners (a transport company) was announced as the new sponsor for 2022.
It gives trainers an alternative to running their best novices in either the Arkle Chase or the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.
The standard of runners has been on the rise, with recent renewals fought out by the likes of Defi du Seuil, Lostintranslation, Samrco, Melon and Faugheen.
TURNERS NOVICES’ CHASE TRENDS
Nicky Henderson secured a 1-2 of Chantry House and Fusil Raffles last year - albeit the 4/9 Irish hotpot, Envoi Allen, fell early.
Course experience is key, with most winners having raced in a novice hurdle at the Festival 12 months before.
Four of the winners had run in the previous seasons' Ballymore Novices' Hurdle.
There have been just three winning outright favourites thus far: Vautour (2015), Yorkhill (2017) and Defi Du Seuil (2019), plus one co-favourite Black Hercules (2016).
But 8 of the 11 winners were 4/1 or shorter.
LAST 5 WINNERS’ DATA
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Chantry House, who finished third in the Supreme Novices Hurdle a year earlier, was Nicky Henderson's 70th Festival winner:
There was a thrilling renewal in 2020, as Samcro, Melon and Faugheen battled it out up the Cheltenham hill:
Defi Du Seuil, winner of the Triumph Hurdle two years beforehand, got the better of his old foe Lostintranslation in 2019:
Shattered Love became the first mare to win the race in 2018:
The mighty Vautour cruised to victory back in 2015 - the second of his 3 Festival wins: