2024 Cheltenham Festival: October Pointers

It's that time of the year where National Hunt fans are licking their lips at the thought of the elite jumping stars returning to the track, and we have six months of top quality action over the sticks ahead of us. Despite it only being October, many will have their eyes firmly fixed on the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, and we will see the return of some of the stars that will be looking to strut their stuff during those four days in March.

Here at Horseracing.net we want to focus on the season ahead and each month we will pick out some of the marquee races to take place and have an eye on the Cheltenham Festival. Here we take a look at some of October's premier races that could throw up a few Cheltenham bound performers...

Persian War Novices' Hurdle - Chepstow

Chepstow plays host to the 'Jumps Season Opener' on October 13 and 14, as the Welsh track hosts some top notch National Hunt action across the two-day event. One of the standout races across the two days is the Grade 2 Persian War Novices' Hurdle, which is a race run over 2m 3f 100y and is a race that can sometimes throw up a potential Ballymore Novices' Hurdle or Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle contender.

Down the years it's been won by some really top notch performers with the likes of Silviniaco Conti (2010) and subsequent RSA winner Blaklion (2014) claiming victory in this event, and while both of those went on to bigger and better things over fences they used this race as a springboard to success later in their career. 

A race targeted by all the premier UK trainers, Paul Nicholls, Philip Hobbs and Nigel Twiston-Davies are all trainers that like to unleash some of their promising novice hurdlers in the race and Captain Teague could line up for the former in the 2023 renewal.

Sharp Novices' Hurdle (Supreme Novices' Hurdle Trial) - Cheltenham

At the end of October the Showcase Meeting at Cheltenham will light up Prestbury Park and while this is a meeting that lacks the dominance and intrigue that the Irish bring to the action at Gloucestershire during the festival, this meeting can be a decent one in its own right. One of the feature races of the two days is the Grade 2 Sharp Novices' Hurdle, which is regarded as a Supreme Novices' Hurdle trial.

It's not necessarily been a happy hunting ground for those looking to find Supreme clues as very few that have competed in this event have returned to compete in the Cheltenham Festival curtain-raiser, but it has a decent roll of honour, so is certainly one to watch. Cue Card (2010), Dodging Bullets (2012) and Altior (2015) have all been top notch winners of the Sharp Novices' Hurdle and all three of those went on to reign supreme at the Cheltenham Festival later in their careers, so it will be fascinating to see the entries for what could be a cracking contest.

Old Roan Chase - Aintree

The Old Roan Chase roll of honour was a who's who of top class staying chasers back in the late 2000s, early 2010s with Kauto Star (2006), Monet's Garden (2007,09,10) and Alberta's Run (2011) all storming to victory in the Aintree event, but since it became a limited handicap it may have lacked the quality it had in yesteryear.

Add to the aforementioned triumvirate with the likes of Smad Place (2017) and Frodon (2018), the Old Roan is a race run over 2m 3f 200y and is a race that could be used as a springboard to the Ryanair Chase in March. It's another contest that can lack the interest from Ireland, so it can lack strength in depth, but with it now being a limited handicap it can often see a competitive field go to post, so is one not to miss.

It may not be an event that throws up a superstar winner, but you have to be a good middle distance chaser to land the prize and there should be a decent field lining up for the 2023 renewal.