<\/p>\n
Cheltenham Racecourse has announced that its celebrated Hunters\u2019
\nChase at the Festival will be renamed in honour of Princess Anne
\nmarking a tribute to one of Britain\u2019s most accomplished
\nequestrians.<\/p>\n
From 2026, the race \u2013 long known affectionately as the
\n\u201cAmateurs\u2019 Gold Cup\u201d \u2013 will be run as the Princess Royal Challenge
\nCup Open Hunters\u2019 Steeple Chase.<\/p>\n
Staged over the same extended three-and-a-quarter-mile trip as
\njump racing\u2019s blue riband, it takes place immediately after the
\nCheltenham Gold Cup on Gold Cup Day, Friday 13 March 2026.<\/p>\n
The renaming is intended to recognise the Princess Royal\u2019s
\nlifelong commitment to equestrian sport. In 1971 she secured
\nindividual gold at the European Eventing Championships at Burghley,
\na landmark achievement that cemented her reputation as one of the
\ncountry\u2019s leading riders. She later represented Great Britain at
\nthe Montreal Olympic Games in 1976 and, during the 1980s, rode as
\nan amateur jockey, partnering winners both on the Flat and over
\nfences.<\/p>\n
Her involvement with the sport has extended well beyond
\ncompetition. Since 1985 she has served as President of the Riding
\nfor the Disabled Association, supporting opportunities for disabled
\nriders across the country. A regular presence at Prestbury Park,
\nshe officially opened the Princess Royal Stand during the November
\nMeeting in 2015, following a \u00a345 million redevelopment of the
\ncourse. Her daughter, Zara Tindall, an accomplished event rider in
\nher own right, has sat on the Cheltenham Racecourse Committee since
\n2019.<\/p>\n
The Hunters\u2019 Chase becomes the second Festival contest to carry
\nthe name of a member of the Royal Family. In 1980, the two-mile
\nChampion Chase was retitled the Queen Mother Champion Chase to mark
\nthe 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the Princess
\nRoyal\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n
As part of the change, the National Hunt Chase will relinquish
\nthe Princess Royal\u2019s name and revert to its historic title, the
\nNational Hunt Challenge Cup Novices\u2019 Handicap Chase.<\/p>\n
Guy Lavender, chief executive of Cheltenham Racecourse, said the
\ndecision reflected both heritage and horsemanship. \u201cThe Hunters\u2019
\nChase at the Festival is a contest which recognises and celebrates
\nthe very origins of our great sport,\u201d he said. \u201cWe therefore feel
\nit is very appropriate to stage it under the name of Her Royal
\nHighness The Princess Royal \u2013 an outstanding all-round equestrian
\nwho has excelled in a wide range of disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalcentral.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cheltenham Racecourse has announced that its celebrated Hunters\u2019 Chase at the Festival will be renamed in honour of Princess Anne marking a tribute to one of Britain\u2019s most accomplished equestrians. From 2026, the race \u2013 long known affectionately as the \u201cAmateurs\u2019 Gold Cup\u201d \u2013 will be run as the Princess Royal Challenge Cup Open Hunters\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2171059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2309921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Mother-and-daughter-together-Zara-joins-Princess-Anne-on-a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2309921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2309922,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309921\/revisions\/2309922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2171059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2309921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2309921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2309921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}