Cheltenham confirm first all-mares card in April
The first ever all-mares jumps card is set to be staged at Cheltenham on April 19th in a seven-race programme, according to a report on Sky Sports.
There is estimated to be over £190,000 in prize money up for grabs on the card, which features three Listed races while there is also a valuable £40,000 juvenile handicap hurdle.
Cheltenham’s clerk of course Simon Claisse said:
I am delighted that Cheltenham is to be the first jumps racecourse to stage an all-mares race-card. We very much hope that the seven races will be well supported.
My thanks go to British Horseracing Authority for their help in bringing this concept together – we are very much looking forward to hosting the mares’ card in April.
Having an all-mares card has been an idea which has been around for a long period of time but it was just deciding when was the best time to implement it. The fact that there were gradually more mare races being included shows that there has been an ambition to increase that area of horse racing.
The card is expected to be a unique and positive introduction to horse racing and could be the start of several mare-only races being introduced in different competitions.