Foxhunter is a faller as race name is changed

FOR more than a century, the Foxhunter Chase has been one of the best known races at the Cheltenham Festival.

But in a move that some will see as bowing to political correctness, organisers have removed ‘fox’ from its name.

There will no longer be a race name associated with foxhunting at the four-day meeting.

Fox hunting in the UK was banned in 2005 and was replaced by trail hunting. It is designed to replicate the traditional sport but without a fox being chased and killed.

The prestigious race takes place after the Gold Cup on the last day of the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Known as the Amateur Gold Cup, it gives non-professionals the chance to show off their talents in front of 60,000 spectators and a TV audience of millions.

It was the first at the festival to be won by a female jockey when Caroline Beasley was successful aboard Eliogarty in 1983.

In 2016, Olympic cyclist Victo

‘Protecting its heritage’

ria Pendleton finished fifth on Pacha Du Polder.

The full name of the race was Foxhunter Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase, but it will now be known as the Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Steeple Chase.

The decision to change the name was made by the Jockey Club and St James’s Place Wealth Management, the race’s sponsor.

Officials have dismissed the notion the name was changed because of a link to fox-hunting.

A spokesman for The Jockey Club said: ‘Both the racecourse and the sponsor wanted to make the race clearly synonymous with the festival while protecting its heritage, including the important Hunter Chase race designation.’

The equivalent race at Aintree remains the Randox Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase.