Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate

The Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate has been run in various guises over the years, but was inaugurated in 1951 as the Mildmay of Flete Challenge Cup, in memory of Anthony Bingham Mildmay, the second Baron Mildmay of Flete. Mildmay rode eight winners at Cheltenham, including three at the Cheltenham Festival, before his premature death by drowning in 1950.

The Brown Advisory & Meribelle Stable Plate is run over 2 miles 5 furlongs on the New Course at Cheltenham and is currently scheduled as fifth race on the third, and penultimate, day of the Cheltenham Festival. The race is a Grade 3 handicap chase, which means it must offer a minimum purse of £40,000 – in 2016, first prize alone was £56,950.00 – and each horse carries a weight allocated according its ability, in the eyes of the official handicapper. Horses aged five years and upwards are eligible to take part and must negotiate a total of seventeen plain fences, open ditches and water jumps.

Veteran trainer Nicholas John “Nicky” Henderson has been the most successful trainer in the history Brown Advisory & Meribelle Stable Plate. The Master of Seven Barrows sent out The Tsarevich (1985, 1986), Liberthine (2005), and Non So (2006) for a total of four wins.