Under Rule (F) 41.4 of the Rules of Racing, as maintained by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the minimum distance allowed for hurdle and steeplechase races is two miles. Traditionally, the distance of these races was rounded to the nearest half furlong, such that courses measuring 1 mile, 7 furlongs and 166 yards or more satisfied this requirement.
However, in 2015, the BHA, in conjunction with the Racecourse Association (RCA), introduced a new methodology for measuring National Hunt racecourses. Instead of measuring distances along the middle of each racecourse with a measuring wheel, the revised approach was to do so along a inner line, two yards inside the innermost position of the running rail.Naturally enough, following a tighter line meant that, in many cases, advertised race distances became shorter. Nowadays, all National Hunt race distances are described in both the traditional manner and to the exact yardage.
Professionally surveying racecourses to the nearest yardage provided greater accuracy for all concerned in the sport of National Hunt racing, but an inevitable consequence of the new methodology was that some courses that previously satisfied Rule (F) 41.4 thereafter failed to do so.The ‘2-mile’ hurdle course at Ascot, for example, was re-measured at 1 mile, 7 furlongs and 152 yards and it was a similar story for other courses, over hurdles and fences, throughout the country.
The BHA adopted a prgamatic approach, allowing Clerks of the Course, wherever possible, to move the start position of ‘errant’ races by way of complying with Rule (F) 41.4. Where this was not possible, though, rather than delete the races – which notably included the Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase, run over 1 mile, 7 furlongs and 119 yards at Sandown – from the calendar, the governing body took the eminently sensible decision to grant special dispensation from the Rule.