Cheltenham Festival Winners

There’s nothing in the racing calendar quite like the Cheltenham Festival, when the eyes of the racing world fix on Prestbury Park for four days and 28 races of enthralling action.

This is the stage all National Hunt owners, trainers and jockeys dream of winning on and those lucky enough to enter the winners’ enclosure here write their names into the history books of the sport.

In this blog we look back at all 28 Festival races, listing the winners in each of the last five years.

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Day One

Bet on all Day One races here

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) – 2m½f (Old Course)

Arkle Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) – 2m (Old Course)

Ultima Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) – 3m1f (Old Course)

Champion Hurdle (Grade 1) – 2m½f (Old Course)

Day One’s feature race, and always a brilliant spectacle as the best hurdlers whizz around the sharp bends of Cheltenham’s Old Course.

This is a race that really sorts the best from the rest, and for the last two years, Henry de Bromhead’s star mare Honeysuckle has claimed the prize. She won’t line up here this year, and there could be a new star to take her place in the form of Constitution Hill.

Mares’ Hurdle (Grade 1) – 2m4f (Old Course)

Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) – 2m½f (Old Course)

National Hunt Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Novices’ Chase – 3m6f (Old Course)

Day Two

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Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) – 2m5f (Old Course)

Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) – 3m½f (Old Course)

Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) – 2m5f (Old Course)

Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1) – 2m (Old Course)

The Champion Chase is usually a brilliant spectacle with 2-mile chasers going flat out around the Old Course.

In recent years it’s a race that has seen some brilliant winners, including Nicky Henderson’s dual champion Altior.

Glenfarclas Chase (Class 2) – 3m6f (Cross-Country Course)

Grand Annual Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) – 2m (Old Course)

Champion Bumper (Grade 1) – 2m½f (Old Course)

Day Three

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Turners Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) – 2m4f (New Course)

Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) – 3m (New Course)

Ryanair Chase (Grade 1) – 2m4½f (New Course)

Stayers’ Hurdle (Grade 1) – 3m (New Course)

The feature race on Day Three is the Stayers’ Hurdle, which is a race that requires extreme reserves of stamina.

It can often be the most open of the four Championship races at the Festival simply because it is so hard for horses to maintain dominance in the division. That being said, Gavin Cromwell’s Flooring Porter has won the last two renewals of the race and could make it three in a row this year.

Plate Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) – 2m4½f (New Course)

Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2) – 2m1f (New Course)

Kim Muir Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase (Class 2) – 3m2f (New Course)

Day Four

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Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1) – 2m1f (New Course)

County Hurdle (Premier Handicap) – 2m1f (New Course)

Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) – 3m (New Course)

Cheltenham Gold Cup (Grade 1) – 3m2½f (New Course)

The blue riband event of National Hunt racing. This is the race everyone dreams of winning.

Not only does it take a horse with serious reserves of stamina to jump 3m2½f around the New Course at Cheltenham, it takes a horse with a real engine to maintain a frenetic gallop.

In four of the last five years, the Gold Cup has gone to Irish-trained horses, with both Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead saddling two winners each. Can the British runners strike back this year?

Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase (Class 2) – 3m2½f (New Course)

Mares’ Chase (Grade 2) – 2m4½f (New Course)

Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (Class 2) – 2m4½f (New Course)

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