Grand National and Cheltenham Festival races given new look by owners The Jockey Club

State Man won the Unibet Champion Hurdle at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival

Races at the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree's Grand National meeting have been given a fresh new look.

Owners of both tracks, The Jockey Club, have announced that their jumps will change ahead of next season.

New padded hurdles, already trialled at Exeter, Market Rasen and Wincanton, are being installed for safety reasons. Research suggests that horses are less likely to fall at the obstacles, which have been developed from the traditional birch model.

The Champion and Stayers' hurdles, won by Irish-trained horses State Man and Teahupoo in March, are the top races over them at Prestbury Park's flagship four-day event.

A spokesperson for The Jockey Club said: "Both Aintree and Cheltenham will have padded hurdles in place by October this year, in time for the new season, meaning that hurdle races at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival and 2025 Randox Grand National Festival will take place over padded hurdles rather than traditional birch hurdles."

Data from the Industry Jump Racing Risk Model shows an 11 per cent reduction in the risk of horses falling in races with the new hurdles.

After they are introduced at the main festival venues, more jump circuits in the group will also make the change by the 2026-27 season. The list includes Sandown, Kempton, Haydock, Carlisle, Huntingdon and Warwick.

Jon Pullin, The Jockey Club’s Group Head of Racing, said: "Following extensive research and analysis, it is evident that padded hurdles provide a safer alternative to traditional birch hurdles, while still presenting the same jumping challenge and spectacle for racing fans.

"Having been successfully utilised at some of our racecourses from as far back as 2016, we feel it is the right decision to deploy padded hurdles at all 11 of The Jockey Club’s racecourses which stage jump racing."

The announcement comes amid a review of the Cheltenham Festival, which is expected to maintain its 28-race, four-day format. Bosses are considering the next step after the average field size for each contest, including the feature Gold Cup, fell to its lowest since 2016.

Fewer people attended the first three days of the prestigious fixture compared to 2023, with cost one factor.

However Gold Cup day was a sellout, when racegoers watched Galopin Des Champs retain his title for Willie Mullins, who became the first trainer to reach a Festival century during the event.