Cheltenham Festival

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For other uses, see Cheltenham Festival (disambiguation).

The Cheltenham Festival is the most prestigious meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom and has race prize money second only to the Grand National. It is an event where many of the best Irish and British horses race against each other, the extent of which is relatively rare during the rest of the season.

It takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Because of the nation's horses and the fact the it usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day, the meeting is often very popular with Irish visitors.

Huge amounts of money are bet, with hundreds of millions of pounds being gambled over the four days and so the Festival is often noted for its atmosphere, most notably the famous Cheltenham roar, which refers to the enormous amount of noise that the crowd generates as the horses enter the home straight and long run in. There is also a huge roar when the first race starts on the opening day.

In 2001 the Festival was cancelled due an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain.

The Festival was traditionally run over the course of three days, but this changed in 2005 with the introduction of a fourth day. There are 24 races overall, with Grade One events including the Champion Bumper, Triumph Hurdle, Supreme Novices' Hurdle, Royal & SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle, Arkle Challenge Trophy, Royal & SunAlliance Chase, Champion Hurdle, World Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and the feature race, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.