Contents

List of British National Hunt races

This list has no precise inclusion criteria as described in the Manual of Style for standalone lists. Please improve this article by adding inclusion criteria, or discuss this issue on the talk page. (April 2024)

A list of notable National Hunt horse races which take place annually in Great Britain, under the authority of the British Horseracing Authority, including all races which currently hold Grade 1, 2 or Premier Handicap status.

A National Hunt (NH) Pattern of important races was first recognized in 1964 when the Horserace Betting Levy Board made a grant of £64,000 to fund a "prestige race allocation" split between the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Grand National. In 1968 a Jump Racing Pattern Committee headed by Lord Leverhulme recommended the creation of a formal NH Pattern, which came into being in 1969 with 14 races initially. The Pattern underwent further revisions in the 1980s and was subject to a major change in 1989 when the Jockey Club, the governing body of British horseracing at the time, overhauled the Pattern to create a mid-season and season-ending Grade 1 race in each of twelve categories, with lead-up Grade 2 races and a set of 14 major handicaps of Grade 3 status.^[1] This forms the basis of the current Pattern, which has since been subject to further changes in status and number of races, most recently for the 2023–24 season.^[2] Major changes took place in the 2022–23 season when the Grade 3 handicaps were renamed Premier Handicaps and Listed handicaps were removed from the pattern, either becoming Premier Handicaps or being downgraded to Class 2 status.^[3][4]

† Prize money figures in italics are from the previous season, updated when available.

Criteria for inclusion;

• Class 2 races worth £50,000 or more run between late October and the end of the season, or £40,000 or more between the start of the season and late October.
• Races worth £34,000 or more which are a course's most important race of the season or which have historical importance.
• All Regional Grand National races.
• Other handicap races with a linked article.

† Distances in miles and furlongs

• British Jump Pattern Book 2019–20
• Jump Pattern changes 2018/19
• BHA Jump Race upgrades for 2016/17 season
• British Jump Pattern Book 2023–24