Cheltenham Festival: The New Course v The Old Course

28 races take place over the four days of the Cheltenham Festival and, especially on winter ground, the ground staff would have an impossible task keeping the course raceable if they only had one track.

Part of Prestbury Park’s ability to hold such an intense week of racing comes from the fact that they host the races around two principal tracks: the Old Course and the New Course. Both have their own qualities and, though both testing, are so for different reasons.

The main similarities between the two courses are that both are across undulating country and are run left-handed and both finish up the famous Cheltenham hill, which really separates the wheat from the chaff in the last few furlongs of the races.

Cheltenham Racecourse also has a third course: the Cross-Country course, which is more lightly used over the jumps season as it only hosts Cross-Country races. Races like these only occur a small handful of times a year and, as such, are greatly anticipated and exciting additions to the yearly horse racing calendar.

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The Old Course

Used for the first two days of the Cheltenham Festival in addition to the Showcase and November meetings earlier in the season, the Old Course works more in the favour of horses who travel strongly and take a prominent position in the field due to its sharpness. Speed is what will win a horse the race around the Old Course.

A narrow turn leading to the home stretch must be navigated carefully, but no more so than the impending penultimate fence, which – due to having caught out so many runners at Cheltenham over the years – has been repositioned three times in the last nine years.

The Old Course tends not to suit horses who travel less enthusiastically as it is a difficult track on which to try and offer a late challenge from the back of the field. As a result, races run around this course tend to be in tightly-bound fields, which presents its own challenges and will require jockeys to employ all of their tactical skill.

Races on the Old Course at the Cheltenham Festival:

The New Course

This course is used for the International, New Year’s Day and Festival Trials Day meetings as well as the final two days of the Cheltenham Festival and the April and May meetings. Unlike the Old Course which places emphasis on speed, the New Course requires real stamina from the runners in order for them to succeed. The Stayers’ Hurdle and the Gold Cup are the best examples of the most stamina testing races run on this track.

The positioning of the last sent of hurdles and fences on the New Course is what really tests the staying power of the runners, as they need to be able to keep up their speed to efficiently clear the last obstacles which, both fences and hurdles, are within the last six furlongs of the finish. A bad jump here will cost a horse the race, so the winning horse has typically needs to jump brilliantly as well as keep on well to finish strongly.

Races on the New Course at the Cheltenham Festival:

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