Weather puts squeeze on field sizes as just 49 declared at Cheltenham for first Premier racing fixture

Cheltenham director of racing Jon Pullin believes the weather is the main culprit for only 49 horses being declared for the track's popular New Year's Day meeting, the first to be run under British racing's new premierisation plans.

In October the sport's leading executives approved a recalibrated fixture list for 2024, central to which was the identification of 170 Premier meetings to be put before the public. 

Cheltenham's card was already guaranteed one major change under separate plans designed to bolster the top-end of Britain's jumps Pattern, with the Grade 2 Dipper Novices' Chase axed and a Class 3 2m½f novice handicap chase  brought into the programme. However, the first running of the new race has attracted only five runners.