The oddschecker team explains the difference between novice and non-novice races in horse racing, with an eye on the Cheltenham Festival.
What are novice races?
Novice hurdles are for horses who are young and less experienced than others and have the potential to go into open company the following season if they succeed.
Once they gain a win in a novice hurdle race, they can still compete in novice races but only until the end of that season as they will no longer be eligible to compete in them the following season.
Depending on the conditions of each race, winners of a previous novice hurdle will be asked to carry a penalty in order to make it fairer on those who have still yet to register a victory.
Novices can run until the next October if they win a race within the last few months of the previous season. If they don’t win, then they are entitled to stick to this route again until getting a win under their belt.
These races are only open to horses who didn’t win a National Hunt race in the previous season and are generally a good starting point for horses learning their craft before bigger tests await them.
The highest profile novice hurdle is the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, which has produced some of the greats of the sport such as Altior, Vautour and Douvan (pictured).
Novice chases are the same as novice hurdles but with fences and horses can only be a novice chaser for a season if they manage a win in a novice race before the last two months of a season.
Once a horse has won one of these, they will not be allowed to enter novice chases unless the win comes in the final two months of a season, then they can continue in novices until the end of October that year.
Towards the end of October, some horses will have gained plenty of chase experience and if they did win a race or two in the previous season, they will still be allowed to compete in novice events.
The main novice chase events include the likes of the Arkle Novices’ Chase (won in 2022 by Edwardstone – pictured below), the Turners Novices’ Chase and the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival plus the Kauto Star at Kempton, while Sandown has the Scilly Isles Novices' Chase and Aintree has the Maghull Novices' Chase.
What are non-novice races?
When novice events are behind some horses, they will then venture into “open company” where they are eligible to compete in the big league, whether it is for those over fences or hurdles, and it includes the four Championship races at the Cheltenham Festival.
Over fences, it could be races such as the Champion Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup, The Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown, The Ascot Chase, The Melling Chase at Aintree and The Betfair Chase at Haydock which spring to mind.
While over hurdles, it could be the Champion Hurdle or the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham plus other notable races to mention are The Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, the Long Walk Hurdle at Newbury and the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.
Some horses tend to struggle going into the open company division when graduating from their previous novice season, whilst others will thrive on this.
