St. James's Place Wealth Management has renewed its brand sponsorship at Cheltenham Racecourse for a further five years, up to and including The Festival™ in 2025.

The Cirencester-based firm will be promoted at The Festival through the St. James's Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters' Steeple Chase. First contested in 1904, the race takes place on the fourth and final day of The Festival (Friday, March 29th 2021).

The extended three and a quarter mile chase was previously run as the St. James's Place Foxhunter Challenge Cup Open Hunters' Chase and the updated race title is intended to strengthen the race's identity as being a fundamental part of The Festival, while respecting its rich heritage as one of the leading hunter chases in the sport.

The St. James's Place Festival Hunters' Chase is unique in being the only race at The Festival open to trainers who are not full-time professionals.

To secure a place in the field, previously race conditions required horses to have either finished in the first two in a hunters' chase on two occasions or won two open point-to-point races, or one of each, within the previous two-and-a-half years. A condition has been added for this year only as a result of the pandemic to allow horses who finish in the first four on two occasions in a hunters' chase between January 20 - March 1 to qualify.

Many famous amateur jockeys feature on the race's roll of honour, including Lord Oaksey, Gay Kindersley, Ted Walsh and Nina Carberry. There are also numerous examples of winning riders going on to forge highly successful careers as professionals. Two recent examples are Sam Twiston-Davies and Bryony Frost.

Nina Carberry who won the race in 2015 and 2016 with companion, On The Fringe, said: 'I was thrilled to win it twice - it's a special race, an amateur's gold cup which holds a lot of fond memories for me. I really like the name St. James's Place Festival Hunters' Chase - it reinforces the race's connection with the Home of Jump Racing whilst also keeping its tradition as one of the sport's most iconic Hunter Chases.'

Ian Renton, regional managing director for The Jockey Club, said: "The Jockey Club is extremely grateful to St. James's Place for extending its generous sponsorship at The Festival. All of us at Cheltenham look forward to working with St. James's Place for the next five seasons."

Ian Gascoigne, managing director for St. James's Place Wealth Management added: "We have been a proud sponsor at Cheltenham Racecourse for a number of years and are delighted to continue our support of a flagship event in our local community.

"Cheltenham Festival provides the opportunity to reach a large audience and the team continuously offer St. James's Place a fantastic experience."