Cheltenham Festival
The Cheltenham Festival: All you need to know
The Cheltenham Festival is the biggest meeting anywhere in the world in National Hunt racing as the whole season builds up towards four days at the Gloucestershire racecourse, where the best horses in their respective divisions clash.
Here’s a look at all the numbers, facts and figures ahead of the festival.
What is the Cheltenham Festival?
The Cheltenham Festival is the equivalent of Jump racing’s Olympics. Over four days the best horses, trainers and jockeys contest 28 of the most competitive races of the season.
Each day features one championship race – the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, Stayers Hurdle and the Gold Cup – and these are considered the jewels in the crown of the Jumps racing calendar.
Where and when is the 2022 Cheltenham Festival?
The 2022 Cheltenham Festival is held over four days in March each year at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire.
Racing takes place from Tuesday to Friday, and this year the first day will be March 15th with the festival concluding on March 18th.
Full Schedule
Day 1 – Featuring the Champion Hurdle
Day 2 – Featuring the Champion Chase
Day 3 – Featuring the Stayers’ Hurdle
Day 4 – Featuring the Gold Cup
Previous winners
Most races at the Cheltenham Festival have a long history and over the years many great champions have triumphed there.
The Champion Hurdle has been won three times by several great horses, including Hatton’s Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War and See You Then. Few horses are as synonymous with the race than Istabraq, who also recorded three wins in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Last season the race was won by Honeysuckle, who is currently strongly fancied to retain her crown.
Sprinter Sacre raised the roof when returning from injury to win a second Champion Chase in 2016, three years after his first. His trainer, Nicky Henderson has a brilliant record in the race – winning five of the last ten renewals, including twice with the great Altior in 2018 and 2019. He looks to have another potential champion this year in Shishkin.
The Stayers’ Hurdle has seen champions such as Baracouda and Inglis Drever, but no horse has more wins in the contest than Big Buck’s. Paul Nicholls’ champion won the race four times between 2009 and 2012. Last year’s contest was won by Flooring Porter, who is currently favourite to defend his crown.
The Gold Cup is the biggest race in National Hunt racing and the ultimate test of a racehorse. 1930s champion, Golden Miller, holds the record for most wins with five. Best Mate achieved three wins in a row in the early 2000s, while Al Boum Photo came up short in his attempt to match that feat last year, when Minella Indo returned the winner. Henry de Bromhead’s nine-year-old narrowly got the better of stablemate A Plus Tard, but that horse is currently favourite to turn the tables this time around.
Cheltenham Festival A-Z
Amateur riders races
There are three races at the Cheltenham Festival which are exclusive to amateur riders. The first features on day one and is the National Hunt Challenge Cup which takes place over three miles six furlongs. This is the longest race of the week and the horses that do well in this contest tend to then go on to the Grand National at Aintree a month later, as they will have proven their stamina. The second amateur riders contest is the Kim Muir Challenge Cup run on day three of the Festival. The Festival Hunters’ Chase is generally regarded as the amateur Gold Cup and is scheduled to take place straight after the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Last year amateur rides couldn’t compete, but they will be back in the saddle for 2022.
Attendances
Recent Cheltenham Festivals have seen attendances in excess of 260,000 racegoers across the four days, with Cheltenham Gold Cup day usually attracting the biggest crowd. In 2018, 70,684 were there in attendance to witness day four, in what was a sell-out at the course. The popularity of the festival continues to rise, organisers will be confident of more packed stands in 2022.
Championship races
There are four Championship races at the Cheltenham Festival, one of which takes place on each day of the meeting. The Champion Hurdle, run over two miles, takes place on the Tuesday and is the leading hurdle race in the sport. On day two, the Queen Mother Champion Chase takes centre stage. This is a two-mile contest over fences where the runners go at a fast speed from the off, making it one of the most fascinating races of the week. On the Thursday, the Stayers’ Hurdle is the highlight, where stamina is the key for the best hurdlers in this division. Finally, the meeting comes to an end on the Friday with the Cheltenham Gold Cup taking place. This is the most prestigious race in National Hunt racing and has been won by some of the greats in the sport, including Arkle, Desert Orchid and Kauto Star. Ante-post betting for these Championship races tends to be available all year round.
Expansion
In 2005 the Cheltenham Festival moved from a three-day meeting to four days. This meant there were four new races added to the schedule. Since then, more races have been included, taking the tally up to 28. The newest race at the Festival is the Mares’ Chase, which was inaugurated in 2021 and was won by the Willie Mullins-trained Colreevy.
Female jockeys
In 1987 Gee Armytage became the first female jockey to ride a winner at the festival when she won the Kim Muir Challenge Cup on board The Ellier for trainer Nigel Tinkler. Armytage then followed that up, the following day, with her second victory in the Mildmay of Flete Challenge Cup with Gee-A. Since then the participation of female jockeys at the meeting has increased dramatically, including in the Cheltenham Gold Cup where Lizzie Kelly rode Tea For Two in 2018, while Bryony Frost became the first female rider to win a Grade 1 at the Festival a year later, when Frodon won the Ryanair Chase. In 2021 Racheal Blackmore smashed all records, when winning six races and being crowned leading rider.
Leading jockey
Irish jockey Ruby Walsh leads the pack with the most winners in history as a rider at the festival with 59. That number could be much higher had he not got injured during the 2018 meeting. Walsh has been the top jockey at the meeting on 11 different occasions. In 2009 he broke the record for the most winners at one festival with seven, while in 2016 he matched that tally again after another great week. The Irishman landed his first festival winner on board Alexander Banquet in the Champion Bumper in 1998 and since then he has gone on to establish himself as one of the best jockeys in the history of National Hunt racing. Walsh has won the Gold Cup on two occasions – both of those successes came when he partnered Kauto Star to victory.
Leading trainer
Willie Mullins is Cheltenham’s most successful trainer
Willie Mullins became the all-time leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival in 2018. He achieved the feat following Laurina’s victory in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle on day three of the meeting. Mullins arguably possesses the best stable of horses in National Hunt racing today and is a trainer that punters love to follow. For many years he had a fantastic partnership with Ruby Walsh, which helped the pair dominate some of the leading races over the last 10 years. After Walsh’s retirement in 2019, Paul Townend became Mullins’ number one stable jockey and together they won the Gold Cup that year with Al Boum Photo, before repeating the feat in 2020.
Not far behind Mullins in the all-time leading trainer list is Nicky Henderson. The British based trainer has held a licence since 1985 and has won just about every leading race in the sport. One of his horses which stands out for having so much success at the meeting is Sprinter Sacre. In 2013 he won his first Queen Mother Champion Chase. However, a heart problem prevented him from dominating this contest over the next two years. Henderson, though, never gave up on the horse and they produced one of the best moments in the history of the festival in 2016 to win the leading two-mile chase, to the delight of the crowd who were there that day.
Prize money
At the 2021 meeting, there was a record amount of prize money with £6.1 million up for grabs across the week, making it the most lucrative National Hunt meeting in the sport. In the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the blue riband event of the week, the total prize fund was £468,750. Winner Minella Indo earned £263,765 for his connections when he edged out stablemate A Plus Tard in a close finish to the 3m2f contest.
With the sport and meeting in great shape, there is sure to be new records broken in 2022 and beyond at the festival at Cheltenham.
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