Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase

Officially registered as the Golden Miller Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase, the Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase is, nowadays, a Grade 2 limited handicap contest, open to novice steeplechasers aged five years and upwards and currently scheduled as the second race on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival in March. The race was established, as the Grade 2 Jewson Novices’ Chase, in 2011, before being upgraded Grade 1 status between 2014 and 2024 and becoming a handicap from 2025 onwards.

Notwithstanding considerable changes, the Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase is still run over an extended two-and-a-half miles on the New Course at Cheltenham. Willie Mullins is the leading trainer in the history of the race with four winners, Sir Des Champs (2012), Vautour (2015), Black Hercules (2016) and Yorkhill (2017), while his former stable jockey, Ruby Walsh, who rode the last three of that quarter, remains the leading jockey.

The change of status may have rendered any trends over the last decade moot, but the most recent winner of the Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase, Caldwell Potter, trained by Paul Nicholls, in 2025 was in the top three in the betting, as were the previous nine winners.

Previous experience over fences, particularly at Cheltenham, and winning form, preferably recent winning form, over the larger obstacles at, or around, two-and-a-half miles, have been prerequisites for winning the race in recent years, as has an official handicap rating of 146 or higher. However, it is worth noting that the transition to a limited handicap means that the weight range is more compressed than in a normal handicap. In 2025, for example, the 154-rated Springwell Bay carried top weight of 11st 12lb, but the 129-rated Shanbally Kid was required to run from 5lb out of the handicap, effectively off a mark of 134, under 10st 6lb, to satisy the 20lb handicap limit.