The Cheltenham Festival

As winter finally draws to a close, and with spring just around the corner, you can almost hear that famous Cheltenham roar!

The Cheltenham Festival is the pinnacle of the jumps season and traditionally National Hunt racing’s showpiece event, with 28 races spread across 4 days from 14th – 17th March. Most of the races will be shown live on ITV. 

The magnificent Cheltenham racecourse is situated in the heart of Gloucestershire, hosting what is now Britain’s third biggest sporting event in terms of attendance. The racecourse has the capacity to hold almost 72,000 punters each day. Last year saw a record of over 280,000 people in attendance over the four days, some luckier than others I’m sure! 

The Festival has a long and illustrious history for over 160 years. In the early days it took place at several different locations, including Warwick racecourse at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1904 and 1905 it was held at Cheltenham’s Prestbury Park, before moving back to Warwick. However, as Cheltenham racecourse began to expand, with new stands and paddock improvements, by 1911 it was decided that the best decision was for the festival to return to Cheltenham, and it has remained there ever since.

The main racecourse has two separate courses alongside each other, the Old Course and the New Course. The Old Course is used for the first two days of the Festival. There is also a cross-country course which is laid out inside the main racecourse and is used for the cross-country steeplechases.

The New Course has a tricky downhill fence and a longer run-in for the steeplechases. The hurdle races over two miles on the New Course also have a slight peculiarity in that most of the hurdles are jumped early in the race, with only two hurdles being jumped in the last seven furlongs. There is a huge climb to the top of the hill which means the race to the finish line requires extreme stamina, and many fine horses have wilted when on the brink of victory.

Difficult times 

In 2001, the Festival was completely cancelled due to the nationwide outbreak of foot and mouth disease. This came at a huge cost to the local community, with an estimated £10 million in revenue being lost. The betting industry lost earnings of an estimated £100 million.

The 2020 cancellation was narrowly avoided as Covid emerged and a pandemic was declared. On a personal note, I will never forget being at the 2020 festival. It was held on Friday 13th March (Friday 13th – I didn’t spot the clue!) It was one of the last events to go ahead in the UK before the first Covid lockdown following Government advice on the 16th about holding large gatherings. I caught Covid … but thankfully avoided foot and mouth!

Organisers were dealt a huge blow last month when several items of silverware were taken during a burglary at Camelot Silverware in Sheffield. Included in the haul was the famous and distinctive Grand Annual Steeplechase Cheltenham trophy, which was being worked on ahead of the 2023 festival.

Riders 

A good horse needs a good pilot on board. Few would argue that Ireland’s Ruby Walsh – who retired in 2019 and was leading rider at the Festival on no fewer than 11 occasions (with 59 winners overall) has been the cream of the crop.

Day 1: Tuesday 14th March

1.30 – Supreme Novices Hurdle – this is the first race of the meeting and is traditionally greeted by the Cheltenham roar and, as the name suggests, is for novice hurdlers. Irish trainer Willie Mullins has an excellent record with 5 winners in the last 10 years and Facile Vega 3/1, Impaire Et Passe 7/1 & Etait Temps 9/2 are reported to represent his best chances. However British trainer Nicky Henderson has won this in 2 out of the last 3 years and his best chance is Luccia, trading at 12/1.

14.10 – The Arkle – named after the 3-time Gold Cup winner – is expected to be a straight shoot-out between the Mullins trained French horse El Fabiolo 6/4 and Henderson’s fancy Jonbon 15/8; but it’s a novice chase so anything can happen!

15.30 – Champion Hurdle – the biggest race of day one and many pundits are finding it hard to look past Constitution Hill 4/11, who produced a truly staggering performance (and course record) in last year’s Supreme Novices Hurdle. Only a brave man would back against him, but State Man 3/1 has course and distance form and is said to be the pick of the Mullins yard for this one. 

16.10 – Mares Hurdle – the biggest cheer of the day would surely be reserved for Honeysuckle 9/4, with last year’s 2022 Gold Cup and 2021 Grand National winning jockey Rachael Blackmore on board. Can the dual Champion Hurdle winner bow out after such an illustrious career with one final victory?

Day 2 

15.30 – the big race on day two is the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Energumene, another Mullins French raider, leads the Irish charge at a current price of 13/8, closely followed by the Alan King trained Edwardstone 15/8. Last year’s Arkle winner is recovering from a bruised foot though and the tough Cheltenham course is unforgiving. No doubt many punters will end up with a cheeky each-way bet on Henry De Bromhead’s Captain Guinness at a tempting 50/1.

Day 3

15.30 – The Stayers Hurdle features Blazen Khal, who recently returned from a long layoff winning at Navan which has catapulted him to 5/2 favourite for Irish trainer Charles Byrnes (previously banned for 6 months after suspicious circumstances surrounding the doping of one of his horses). Teahupoo is also fancied at 7/2 for another top Irish trainer, Gordon Elliott, while veteran Paisley Park is another interesting entry and possibly good each way value at 20/1.

Day 4 

15.30 – The Gold Cup is widely regarded as the most prestigious race in the sport. The first horse race, known as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, took place in July 1819 with a prize fund of 100 guineas and was actually a flat race. The prize fund has now reached £625,000. Last year’s winner A Plus Tard and jockey Rachael Blackmore will be looking to defend the title and is currently priced at 8/1. Rachael was the first female jockey ever to pick up the trophy. The 2022 Grand National winner Noble Yeats is 15/2 and winning would cap an incredible 12 months, while Willie Mullins has yet another of his French horses at the top of the betting market with Galopin Des Champs 13/8. But with 23 horses still entered before the field is trimmed down over the next couple of weeks, attempting to pick a winner is a Bravemansgame … who incidentally is currently available at 8-1.