Golden Miller Novices Chase

The Golden Millers Novices Chase is currently known as Turners Novice Chase and is a two and a half-mile race on day 3 of the Cheltenham Festival.

It was run as the Jewson Novices’ Handicap Chase from 2005 to 2010 which then became the Centenary Novices’ Handicap Chase.

The new race was first run in 2011 and was given Grade 1 status three years later. Although some believe the race detracts from the more established three-mile novices’ chase, it has already produced several high-class winners.

Find out more about the Golden Miller Novices Chase:

The Golden Miller Novices’ Chase Race Overview

The Golden Miller Novices’ Chase, presently known as the Marsh Novices’ Chase for sponsorship purposes, is a Grade One National Hunt chase in GB open to horses aged five and up.

It is run over a distance of around 2 miles and 4 furlongs on the New Course at Cheltenham as part of the Cheltenham Festival, and there are seventeen obstacles to jump during the race.

It is a novice chase race held on the 3rd day of the Cheltenham Festival in March each year.

Famous Turners Novices’ Chase Winners

The second running of the race was won by Sir Des Champs, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Davy Russell. He won the Irish Hennessy Gold Cup the following season before finishing second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He also won the Punchestown Gold Cup and earned just under £500,000 in prize money.

Taquin Du Seuil was another top-class chaser to win this race in 2014, trained by Jonjo O’Neill and ridden by Tony McCoy. He won the Grade 3 BetVictor Gold Cup at Cheltenham in 2016 and was also a very creditable second in the 2017 Coral Cup.

The best horse to grace the Turners Novices’ Chase to date was certainly Vautour, another winner for Willie Mullins in 2015. He had won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle the previous year and was a very impressive winner of this event. He won the 1965 Chase at Ascot and was unlucky to lose to Cue Card in the King George VI Chase. He gained his biggest win over fences in the 2016 Ryanair Chase which he won comfortably by 6 lengths.

2019 winner Defi Du Seuil had won the Triumph Hurdle as a juvenile during a perfect campaign which yielded seven consecutive victories. He defeated Lostintranslation in a high quality renewal of this race and won two Grade 1’s over two miles the following season; the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown and the Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

For sheer drama, the 2022 renewal will be hard to beat. Billed as a match between the top two novices in Ireland, Galopin Des Champs had gone 12 lengths clear when falling at the final fence. That left Bob Olinger to collect the prize, albeit with trainer Henry de Bromhead scratching his head as to how his horse could have been so comprehensively beaten before the fall.

Turners Novice Chase 2023 Odds

The 2023 odds for the Turners Novice Chase have yet to be released.

Turners Novice Chase Previous Winners

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer
2012	Sir Des Champs	6	Davy Russell	Willie Mullins
2013	Benefficient	7	Bryan Cooper	Tony Martin
2014	Taquin du Seuil	7	Tony McCoy	Jonjo O’Neill
2015	Vautour	6	Ruby Walsh	Willie Mullins
2016	Black Hercules	7	Ruby Walsh	Willie Mullins
2017	Yorkhill	7	Ruby Walsh	Willie Mullins
2018	Shattered Love	7	Jack Kennedy	Gordon Elliott
2019	Defi du Seuil	6	Barry Geraghty	Philip Hobbs
2020	Samcro	8	Davy Russell	Gordon Elliott
2021	Chantry House	7	Nico de Boinville	Nicky Henderson
2022	Bob Olinger	7	Rachael Blackmore	Henry de Bromhead

Key Turners Novices’ Chase Trials

Although this is a relatively new race for the Cheltenham Festival, it is already clear that the key trials take place at Leopardstown.

Six of the first twelve winners ran at that venue before running in the Turners.

Bob Olinger won the Grade 3 Kildare Novice Chase over this trip on his previous start. Samcro had finished second at Limerick on Boxing Day before his success in 2020. Shattered Love won the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Novice Chase at Leopardstown before her 2018 victory.

Yorkhill (2017) was another to have raced and won at Leopardstown on his previous start.

Turners Novices’ Chase Betting Trends

The first two in the betting have accounted for ten of the first twelve winners in the history of the Turners. Three of those were outright favourites; Vautour (2015) and Yorkhill (2017) both returned 6-4 while Defi Du Seuil was a winning 3-1 favourite in 2019. Black Hercules returned 4-1 joint-favourite when successful in 2016.

There have been six winning second favourites including four of the last five, although it should be noted that Chantry House (2021) was 9-1 behind long odds-on faller Envoi Allen. The only shock result in this event was provided by 20-1 chance Benefficient for Tony Martin and Bryan Cooper in 2013.

Horses aged six and seven have dominated, winning all bar the 2020 renewal which went to eight-year-old Samcro. Interestingly, all twelve winners had raced at least once at Cheltenham previously and eight of them had a course win to their credit.

Eleven of the twelve had at least three previous races over fences, ten of them claiming two or more victories. An official rating of 146 or higher is normally required to win this race. The only winner to fall below that mark was Shattered Love (144). Bob Olinger (161) became the highest rated winner to date when profiting from the last fence fall of Galopin Des Champs.

Betting on the Golden Miller

If you are looking to bet on the Golden Miller we recommend these bookies:

The Turners Novices’ Chase attracted some massive wagers in 2022 once it became clear that both Galopin Des Champs and Bob Olinger were on course for the race. Both had held prominent positions in the ante-post betting on the Brown Advisory Chase over three miles.

With bookmakers now offering “non-runner – no bet” on all Cheltenham races from the end of January, that is probably the safest time to get involved in this event. Running plans are always likely to be left as late as possible in case there is any significant going change at the festival.

All of the above have been favourably reviewed and made our list of best Cheltenham bookies, with some having Cheltenham free bet offers, betting exchange options on Cheltenham betting markets, live streaming, various deposit methods, bonus bets on specific Cheltenham races and more for new customers. Be sure to follow the links for more information.

Turners Novices’ Chase – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Willie Mullins won four of the first seven runnings of this race with Sir Des Champs (2012), Vautour (2015), Black Hercules (2016) and Yorkhill (2017). Gordon Elliott is the only other trainer to manage more than one success, scoring with Shattered Love (2018) and Samcro (2020). Given that Samcro only beat the Mullins-trained Melon by a nose and that Galopin Des Champs was home for all money until falling in 2022, Cheltenham’s leading trainer could easily have enjoyed even greater success here.

Ruby Walsh rode three consecutive winners here for Mullins (2015-2017) to overtake old rival Tony McCoy as the leading jockey in the short history of the event. Davy Russell has joined McCoy on the two-winner mark courtesy of Sir Des Champs and Samcro.