The pool of top-class jumpers is getting smaller - and the Cheltenham Festival Grade 1s were evidence of that

The apparent decline in quality of the Grade 1 races at the Cheltenham Festival has been a major talking point in recent days – and Racing Post Ratings can now reveal the full extent of the problem.

Four of the 14 Grade 1 races at the meeting produced the lowest winning RPR in the last decade (taking into account 7lb mares’ allowances in all cases), with nine of the winning marks below that of the ten-year average. And it is not as if there was strength in depth in behind with the average marks of the top-four finishers little better, with three of the 14 Grade 1s producing the lowest average in the last decade and nine below the ten-year benchmark.

The three races to hit a ten-year low by both metrics were the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, while the Stayers’ Hurdle, Triumph Hurdle, Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase and Ryanair Chase were the others to fall short of recent standards by both metrics. The Mares’ Hurdle (top-four finishers) and Champion Bumper (winner’s rating) were below average by one of the two metrics.