When Does The Jumps Season Start? 2024/25 National Hunt Dates and Main Fixtures

Horse racing jumps fans will be licking their lips as the main National Hunt campaign is here – but just when does the jumps season actually start and what are the key dates for the main fixtures for 2024/25?

The 2024/25 Jumps Season Starts In May and Ends In April

Each jumps season ends at the big bet365 Gold Cup meeting at Sandown in April and it’s not long before it starts up again in May – with the Jump Jockeys Championship decided on winners in all British National Hunt races in 2024/25 between Saturday 4th May to Saturday 26th April 2025.

However, despite jumps racing in the UK being pretty much all-year-round that includes summer jumping over the months of June, July and August – the die-hard National Hunt fans really know that their season really runs between October to April.

It’s over these months that the flat turf action turns to the AW and the focus switches to the jumpers having the main fixtures – like the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day at Kempton, the Cheltenham Festival in March and, of course, the Grand National at Aintree in April.

With that in mind, many horse racing jumps fans feel the Persian War Novices’ Hurdle card at Chepstow (11th-12th Oct), the Cheltenham October Meeting (25th-26th Oct) or the Charlie Hall Chase fixture (2nd Nov) are the three signature meetings that really signify when the jumps season starts properly.

There is no wrong, or right – you decide.

Jump Jockey Championship Dates 2024/25

Recent Champion Jump Jockey Winners (Last 10 Years)

See below the last 10 British Champion Jump Jockeys – with the winner determined on the number of winners they get over the season.

Last term Harry Cobden, who does most of his riding with the Paul Nicholls yard, won the title with 164 winners.

AP McCoy won the jockeys’ championship a staggering 20 times in-a-row between the 1995-96 and 2014/15 until he retired to let someone else have a go.

The best horse racing betting sites in the UK will have Harry Cobden as one of the big fancies to win the title again.

Recent Champion Jump Trainer Winners (Last 10 Years)

See below the last 10 British Champion Jump Trainers – with the winner determined on the total prize money won over the season, and not the number of winners.

To date, Paul Nicholls has been British champion jumps trainer 14 times and is just one behind Martin Pipe (15). While Nicky Henderson has won the title four times.

In 2023/24, the Irish trainer Willie Mullins remarkably won the title despite being based in Ireland. Despite having a lot fewer actual winners in Britain, Mullins won the bigger races that carried the most prize money – notably the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National.

For example, Galopin Des Champs banked £352,729.16 for Mullins after winning the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup and I Am Maximus won £500,000 for taking the 2024 Grand National.

What Are The Main National Hunt Meetings During The 2024/25 Season?

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