Ian Renton

The programme for next year's Cheltenham Festival has undergone some key changes in order to improve competitiveness in a number of races. From 2025, the two-and-a-half-mile Turners Novices' Chase will be replaced by a Grade 2 limited novice handicap chase over the same trip, while the National Hunt Chase, which has been contested by amateur riders, will be open to professionals and become a novice handicap chase for horses rated 0-145. Jon Pullin, head of racing and clerk of the course at Cheltenham, said, "We have had to acknowledge that...

Guy Lavender has been appointed the new chief executive officer of Cheltenham Racecourse, The Jockey Club announced on Wednesday. He will begin his new role early next year, working alongside Cheltenham managing director Ian Renton. The duo will coordinate the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, and Renton, who has served in his role since 2012, will remain involved at the racecourse in an advisory capacity at least through the event. Lavender was previously the CEO and secretary of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) since 2017 and since 2022 has been a committee...

Cheltenham will honour the late Lorna Brooke on Friday's seven-race Hunter Chase Racing card. The penultimate race on the card, the Lorna Brooke Open Hunters' Chase goes off at 7.45p.m. Brooke, 37, passed away Apr. 19 as the result of a spinal injury sustained during a fall at Taunton Racecourse Apr. 18. "Lorna was a dear friend and rode for me on many occasions," said Shropshire-based Philip Rowley. "I will always be thankful to her for providing me with my first winner under Rules, which was The General Lee in...

Former Cheltenham racecourse chairman Lord Vestey has died at the age of 79. Samuel Vestey, 3rd Baron Vestey, whose wife Celia, the sister of Gold Cup-winning trainer Henrietta Knight, died last year, aged 71, had a long association with the sport. Sporting his familiar blue silks, his runners enjoyed success over jumps and on the Flat. Jamie Osborne, now a successful trainer, was in the irons when the Knight-trained Karshi (GB) (Persian Bold {Ire}) delivered one of Vestey's biggest wins. Owned and bred by Vestey himself, he won the 1997...