Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival is the pinnacle of the National Hunt game, providing four spectacular days of jump racing. The iconic Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park plays host to the meeting as racing fans, trainers, owners and punters make the annual pilgrimage to Gloucestershire.

The 2024 Cheltenham Festival takes place between March 12 and March 15 with a total of 28 races – including 14 Grade 1s and a host of competitive handicaps. Each day features a Championship race, with the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday being the Blue Riband event of the festival.

Listen out for the famous Cheltenham roar at the beginning of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, which opens the festival at 1:30pm on Tuesday 12th March.

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Races by Day

📍 Location: Cheltenham Racecourse

Day 1: The Champion Hurdle

Tuesday, 12 March 2024

• Day one features the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle over two miles – recent star winners include Honeysuckle, Epatante and Constitution Hill.
• The most prestigious hurdle race on the calendar has eight hurdles to be jumped over 2 miles and half a furlong.
• Nicky Henderson is the winning-most trainer of the race with eight victories whilst jockeys Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty have both ridden four winners in this contest.
• Champion Hurdle Day boasts four Grade 1s, with the opening Supreme Novices’ Hurdle getting under way to the famous Cheltenham roar.
• The Arkle Challenge Trophy – for two-mile novice chasers – and the Mares’ Hurdle over 2m4f complete the Grade 1 quartet.
• The brilliant Quevega – trained in Ireland by the great Willie Mullins – made the Mares’ Hurdle her own by winning six times between 2009 and 2014. Honeysuckle has won two of the last four renewals of this race.
• The National Hunt Challenge Cup can often point to future Grand National winners – dual Aintree hero Tiger Roll scored in 2017.

Day 2: The Queen Mother Champion Chase

Wednesday, 13 March 2024

• Day two sees the two-mile chasers to take centre stage in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, won by Willie Mullins’ fantastic Energumene for the last two years.
• Henderson boasts the most winners alongside Tom Dreaper with six apiece. Famous recent victors include Politologue, Altior and the aforementioned Energumene.
• Two Grade 1s kick off the day with the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle often producing future Champion Hurdle winners while the Festival Steeplechase can throw up future Gold Cup horses – Might Bite won in 2017 before finishing second in the Gold Cup in 2018.
• Trainer Enda Bolger has won the unique Cross Country Chase five times, but that race has been won by Gordon Elliott five times in the last seven years, so it’s always worth looking out for his runners in this stamina-sapping contest.

Day 3: The Stayers’ Hurdle

Thursday, 14 March 2024

• Day three features two open Grade 1s, with the Stayers’ Hurdle traditionally the headline event boasting notable winners such as Big Buck’s (2009,10,11,12) and Flooring Porter (2021,22). Gordon Elliott’s Sire Du Berlais was victorious in the 2023 renewal.
• The three-mile hurdle race has arguably been usurped now by the Ryanair Chase, a 2m5f Grade 1 over fences which has its own illustrious roll of honour.
• Despite only being founded in 2005, the likes of Allaho, Cue Card, Vautour, Un De Sceaux and most recently, Envoi Allen have all won the Ryanair.
• The Marsh Novices’ Chase (formerly the JLT Novices’ Chase) kicks off the card. Willie Mullins won four of the first six runnings of this race, however, the Irish trainer hasn’t managed to train the winner of this event since 2017 (Yorkhill). The last five renewals have each been won by different trainers.

Day 4: Gold Cup

Friday, 15 March 2024

• The final day is arguably the best day of racing on the National Hunt calendar.
• The card boasts three Grade 1s including the 3m2f Cheltenham Gold Cup. Widely regarded as the most prestigious event in jump racing, it had a prize fund of £625,000 in 2019 and has had several multiple winners including Golden Miller, Kauto Star and more recently Al Boum Photo.
• Willie Mullins finally won the Gold Cup for the first time in 2019 with Al Boum Photo and he repeated the trick in 2023 with the classy Galopin Des Champs.
• The Triumph Hurdle kicks off Gold Cup day, a Grade 1 for four-year-olds.
• The Foxhunter Chase – for hunter chasers and amateur jockeys – tends to throw up plenty of repeat winners including Salsify, On The Fringe and Pacha Du Polder. Bradley Gibbs’ Premier Magic was a surprise winner of the race in 2023 at odds of 66-1.
• The final race of the day used to be the Grand Annual – named after Nicky Henderson’s late father Johnny – but now the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle rounds things off.

Keep an eye on our blog throughout the Cheltenham Festival for up-to-date news, previews, updates and analysis from Prestbury Park.