The Cheltenham Festival is firmly established as the most popular, prestigious and eagerly anticipated meeting in the entire National Hunt season. What sets it apart from the other big meetings on the calendar? These are the top five reasons why the Cheltenham Festival is such a big deal:
Cheltenham Hosts the Top Three Races of the Year
The most prestigious race of the year takes place on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival. Thousands of spectators gather in the stands to watch the finest chasers in the world battle one another for glory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. This Grade 1 race takes place over 3 miles, 2 furlongs and 70 yards, so it is an epic battle. The prestige is immense, and it is also the most valuable non-handicap chase in Britain, so it always attracts an elite field. Past winners include the most famous chasers of all time, including Arkle, Best Mate and Golden Miller.
Cheltenham also features the most prestigious hurdling event in the National Hunt calendar. The Grade 1 Champion Hurdle takes place over 2 miles and 87 yards on the opening day of the meeting, bringing the finest hurdlers in the business together to compete for the ultimate honour. Legendary former winners include Istabraq, See You Then and Persian War.
If that were not enough, the meeting plays host to the most prestigious minimum-distance chase in the season. The Queen Mother Champion Chase is held on the second day of the festivities, run over a distance of almost 2 miles and featuring 13 fences. It is another huge event. You can also watch the Stayers' Hurdle – the leading long-distance hurdle event in the calendar – at the Cheltenham Festival.
There are 14 Grade 1 Races in Four Days
There are only 40 Grade 1 races in the entire jumps racing season, and 14 of them take place in the space of a mere four days at the Cheltenham Festival. That makes it the most prestigious overall event in the season by a wide margin.
The field for each race is very impressive, as you can see from the spread betting markets on this year's event. The prize money is now edging back to pre-pandemic levels too, which helps to maintain a high calibre.
The Grade 1 races are the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, the Arkle, the Champion Hurdle, the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle, the Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdle, the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the Champion Bumper, Golden Miller Novices' Chase, Festival Trophy Stayers' Hurdle, Triumph Hurdle, Spa Novices' Hurdle and finally the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Every leading owner, trainer, jockey and horse in the sport will be at Cheltenham. It provides career-defining moments, so it is not to be missed.
The Meeting is Steeped in Heritage
The Cheltenham Festival can trace its heritage all the way back to 1860. It moved around in its earliest incarnations, but it has been held at Prestbury Park every year since 1911. The Stayers' Hurdle was held for the first time in 1912, and it is still going strong 110 years later.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup began in 1924, followed by the Champion Hurdle in 1927 and the Champion Chase in 1959. Each race is therefore steeped in history, so current jockeys and trainers are following in the footsteps of veritable legends, adding a great deal of prestige and provenance to proceedings.
The Atmosphere is Electric
A record opening day crowd of 77,934 packed into Prestbury Park to watch the action unfold in March 2019. Around 254,000 people in total visited over the course of the four days. The attendance figures dipped slightly during the pandemic, but it is always blessed with a buzzing atmosphere.
The famous “Cheltenham Roar” refers to the loud commotion that emanates from the crowd when the runners thunder down the home straight and charge to the finish line. Many of them have placed bets on the races – hundreds of millions of pounds are wagered over the course of the week – which adds to the excitement and tension.
The British-Irish Rivalry Heats Up Proceedings
The Cheltenham Festival is extremely popular among Irish fans, owners, jockeys and trainers, and the Irish runners regularly get the better of their Great British rivals. That inspired the creation of the Prestbury Cup in 2014. It is awarded each year to the country – Great Britain or Ireland – that lands the most winners.
Great Britain won 15-12 in 2014 and 14-13 the following year, but Ireland then recorded three comfortable victories in a row, including a 19-9 demolition in 2017. Great Britain battled back to earn a 14-14 draw in 2019, but Ireland cemented their dominance by winning 17-10 in 2020 and 23-5 in 2021.
This rivalry adds spice to proceedings. Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls are among the trainers flying the flag for Britain, but Ireland's Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliot and Henry de Bromhead have been untouchable in recent years.
