A list of notable

National Hunt In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...

horse races Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

which take place annually in Great Britain, under the authority of the

British Horseracing Authority The British Horseracing Authority, also known simply as the BHA, is the regulatory authority for horse racing in Great Britain. It was formed on 31 July 2007, after the merger of the British Horseracing Board (BHB) and the Horseracing Regulato ...

, including all races which currently hold Grade 1, 2 or 3 status.

History of the National Hunt Pattern

A National Hunt (NH) Pattern of important races was first recognized in 1964 when the

Horserace Betting Levy Board The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), commonly abbreviated to the Levy Board, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body established by the Betting Le ...

made a grant of £64,000 to fund a "prestige race allocation" split between the

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlongs (3 ...

Champion Hurdle The Champion Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a ...

and

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

. In 1968 a Jump Racing Pattern Committee headed by

Lord Leverhulme William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme , (, ; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Having been educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church school ...

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. This forms the basis of the current Pattern, which has since been subject to further changes in status and number of races. From the 2022–23 season Grade 3 handicaps have been renamed Premier Handicaps and Listed handicaps have been removed from the pattern, either becoming Premier Handicaps or being downgraded to Class 2 status.

Grade 1

Grade 2

Premier Handicaps

Selected other races

Discontinued

† ''Distances in miles and furlongs''

References

British Jump Pattern Book 2019-20Jump Pattern changes 2018/19BHA Jump Race upgrades for 2016/17 season
---- {{DEFAULTSORT:British National Hunt races National Hunt races Horse racing-related lists National Hunt races