What Is a Novice Chase? How Kabral Du Mathan Learned to Jump Fences

What is a novice chase? Kabral Du Mathan just ran in one

What is a novice chase? It's a steeplechase for horses that had not won a chase before the current season began. It's the classroom of jump racing, where horses that already know how to race over small hurdles learn to meet bigger, solid fences at speed.

That's why horse racing fans paid attention at Perth on Thursday, October 15, 2026. Dan Skelton's Kabral Du Mathan, ridden by the trainer's brother Harry Skelton, won a two-mile beginners' chase by 19 lengths on his first start over fences.

He was the clear 2/9 favourite in a four-runner field, and his form deserved it. Last season he won the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle and then finished fourth in the Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

One rival unseated his rider at the second fence. Harry Skelton steered around the loose horse and eased clear on the home turn. Racing Post reported that bookmakers cut his odds for March's Arkle to 6/1 from 8/1.

This guide explains what happened at Perth: how hurdles differ from fences, what the race labels mean and how a horse's first autumn over fences leads to Cheltenham.

Hurdles vs fences in horse racing: what changes for the horse

Jump racing, called National Hunt racing in Britain and Ireland, has two main kinds of obstacles. They look similar on TV, but horses meet them very differently.

The big difference is forgiveness. A horse can brush through a hurdle and lose little. A chase fence doesn't give, so a sloppy jump costs ground and can unbalance the horse.

That's why trainers watch how a hurdler jumps before they decide on fences. Dan Skelton described Kabral Du Mathan as "quite light on his feet," which is exactly what you hope to see from a new chaser.

Chases in Britain run from about 2 miles up to roughly 4½ miles. For more on how riders and horses learn to jump in other sports, see our disciplines guide.

Novice, beginners' chase, graded novice chase: what the race labels mean

Race cards use labels that confuse even regular fans. Here is what each one means.

Novice

Novice status depends on the type of race. A novice chaser had not won a steeplechase before the current season started, and a novice hurdler is defined the same way for hurdles.

A horse stays a novice until the end of the season in which it gets its first win of that kind. In Britain, horses that get that first win late in the season can keep running in novice races into the following autumn, under a cutoff the BHA has set at 30 November since 2022-23.

Beginners' chase meaning

A beginners' chase is the strictest entry point. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) describes these as weight-for-age races restricted to horses that have not yet won a race over fences.

Hurdle winners, even Cheltenham Festival runners, are welcome. That's how a horse of Kabral Du Mathan's class ended up racing in a four-runner beginners' chase at Perth.

Novices' chase

A novices' chase also accepts horses that have already won over fences this season, but those winners usually carry a weight penalty. Beginners' chases are common in early autumn, and novices' chases become more common later in the season.

Graded novice chase

Graded novice chases are the top tier: Grade 2 races and, above them, Grade 1 championships. The BHA requires a minimum official rating to run in Grade 1 novices' chases. For how grades and groups work in general, read What Is a Grade 1 Race?.

Why Britain wants more of these races

For 2025-26, the BHA launched a "Chasing Excellence" push after only two British-trained horses lined up in the Grade 1 novice chases at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. The plan added more Class 2 and 3 beginners' and novices' chases, raising Class 3 prize money to at least £15,000 in 2026.

Trainers had told the BHA that fast-paced novice handicaps were a poor place to learn jumping. Weight-for-age races like the one at Perth give a new chaser more time and space to learn.

Why horses go from bumpers to hurdles to chasing

Most British and Irish jumpers follow the same path. It isn't a rule, but it's the usual way to build a horse's experience step by step.

1. Bumpers (National Hunt flat races). These are races with no obstacles, where young jump-bred horses learn about crowds, starts and racing in a group.
2. Hurdles. Lower, flexible obstacles teach a horse to jump at racing speed without a big penalty for mistakes.
3. Novice chases. Usually a season or more later, once the horse has matured physically, it moves up to bigger fences.
4. Open chases. After its novice season, the horse races against experienced chasers in handicaps and championship races.

The Jockey Club notes that chasers tend to be older horses, many of whom raced over hurdles first. Some horses go straight to fences or stay over hurdles their whole career, depending on their size, jumping and owners' plans.

Kabral Du Mathan is a typical example. He is a six-year-old who reached top level over hurdles and is now learning to jump fences.

The Arkle Chase explained: how autumn leads to Cheltenham in March

The novice chase season works like a ladder. Early-autumn races at tracks like Perth give horses their first experience over fences. Graded races in November and December test the best of them, and the Cheltenham Festival in mid-March 2027 decides the championships.

The Arkle Challenge Trophy is the Grade 1 novice championship at the minimum chase distance of about 2 miles. It's run on the Old Course on the Festival's opening day, with 13 fences, and has been named after the great chaser Arkle since 1969.

The Festival also has longer Grade 1 novice chases, including the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase over about 3 miles. Kitzbuhel won it for Willie Mullins in March 2026.

A rough autumn-to-spring timeline for a top two-mile novice:

• October: A beginners' chase to start over fences, as at Perth
• November: A Grade 2 trial, such as the two-mile novice chase at Cheltenham's Paddy Power meeting
• December: A Grade 1 or Grade 2 test, like Sandown's Henry VIII Novices' Chase or Kempton's Christmas meeting
• January-February: Some horses run again; others stay home on soft ground
• March: The Cheltenham Festival

Kabral Du Mathan's plans: ground first, Cheltenham later

Dan Skelton's comments after Perth set out options, not certainties. Here's what he said, according to Sporting Life and Racing Post.

• Ground decides everything. He wants good-to-soft ground or better and said he doesn't want to run the horse on bad ground.
• Next target: the graded two-mile novice chase at Cheltenham's Paddy Power meeting in November, if conditions suit.
• After that: Sandown's Henry VIII Novices' Chase in early December, or a two-mile race at Kempton over Christmas (Skelton mentioned Boxing Day).
• The Arkle: It's the spring aim, but nothing is guaranteed. Both reports quote Skelton saying that after a December run, the horse might not race again before the Arkle, because he doesn't want to run him on bad ground.

Skelton said he wants the horse to gain experience before the new year and then be kept fresh for spring. A wet winter could mean fewer runs and a longer gap between them.

What to watch next this novice chase season

You don't need to bet to enjoy the novice chase season. Watching young chasers improve from race to race is one of the best parts of jump racing.

How to follow a novice chaser:

• Watch the jumping, not just the result. Look for horses that meet fences on a good stride and land running, rather than ones that hesitate or jump to one side.
• Check the going. British race cards list ground from heavy to good to firm, and horses like Kabral Du Mathan may skip a race if it's too soft.
• Read the race title. "Beginners'" means no previous chase winners, "Novices'" may include penalized winners and "Grade 1" or "Grade 2" means the top level.
• Note the runners. Small fields are normal in early-season beginners' chases and give green horses room to learn.
• Mark the calendar. The Paddy Power meeting is in November, the Henry VIII is in early December, the Christmas meetings follow, and the Cheltenham Festival is in mid-March.

If you like jump racing's toughest tests, compare this with Czechia's cross-country chase in Velka Pardubicka 2026. New to racing words? Our glossary and racing trends hub can help.