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Cheltenham Festival, National Hunt racing at Prestbury Park

Racing festival · Jumps

Cheltenham Festival

Tue 16 - Fri 19 Mar 2027Cheltenham Racecourse

Four days of championship National Hunt racing. The Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers' Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup are the four feature races, one per day. The biggest jumps festival in the calendar.

Feature raceChampion Hurdle (Tue, G1)
Countdown132 days
Duration4 days
Nearest stationCheltenham Spa

Day by day

  1. Tue 16 MarChampion Day, the opening day, built around the Champion Hurdle.
  2. Wed 17 MarLadies Day, with the Queen Mother Champion Chase as the feature.
  3. Thu 18 MarSt Patrick's Thursday, with the Stayers' Hurdle and the Ryanair Chase.
  4. Fri 19 MarGold Cup Day, the final day, with the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Where it is

CourseCheltenham RacecourseCheltenham, Gloucestershire
Nearest stationCheltenham Spa
Your race day

Which day are you going?

Pick a day and everything below, including the rooms, is for that day.

Three chasers stretch out on the run-in at Cheltenham with the Cotswold hills behind.

Photo credit: “Master Minded (2010)” by Charles Dyer from Bristol, United Kingdom, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (resized)

Tue 16 Mar to Fri 19 MarCheltenham FestivalFour days of championship National Hunt racing.

The racing

The racingChampion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers' Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold CupThe races, the history and how the meeting runs, in our guides. Racecards are further down the page.Cheltenham guideCheltenham course guide

Plan your tripStay · travel · tickets · wear

Advertisement · Where to stayLateRooms.com
Rooms near Cheltenham: all four nights

Check in Tue 16 Mar, out Sat 20 Mar, 2 adults, 1 room. Hotels, inns and B&Bs around the course on LateRooms.com.

Or a holiday cottage near CheltenhamSelf-catering holiday cottages, for groups and longer stays. More cottages and holiday homes to compare.
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Getting there · includes advertsCheltenham Spa station · sat nav GL50 4SHPre-book a driveway or car park space near the course.YourParkingSpaceAdTravel guide
TicketsWhich enclosure to bookThe enclosures compared, with what each one includes.Enclosures
What to wear · includes advertsThe dress code, enclosure by enclosureStatement occasionwear, dresses and jumpsuits. Occasion dresses, from modest to mini. Luxury occasionwear and wedding-guest dresses from London.Aven RowAdMALOAAdRaishmaAdDress code
  • AdRaishma: 15% off everything with code RAISHMAX15. One use per customer.
Picnic and drinks · advertsFor the car park picnicCocktail gift sets for the car park picnic. Champagne and vintage wine, delivered next day.Cocktail CratesAdVintage Wine GiftsAd

Photos on this page are used under Creative Commons licences. Titles, sources and licence links for each one are on our image credits page.

Every race with a book at 10 festivals, added up and ranked: the dearest, Galway, charged 72% more than the cheapest, Champions Day. Cheltenham runs Tue 16 - Fri 19 Mar 2027 and joins this table once the week is settled.Rendered from data to 17 October 2026.
What this shows, in words

A bar chart of 10 race meetings ranked by the bookmakers' overround, the margin over a fair book. Champions Day 17.7% on an average field of 12.3; St Leger Festival 21.4% on an average field of 11.5; Killarney July 23.0% on an average field of 10.6; Irish Derby 23.8% on an average field of 11.8; Epsom Derby 23.9% on an average field of 12.4; Glorious Goodwood 24.8% on an average field of 13.4; Irish Champions Festival 25.3% on an average field of 13.6; Ebor Festival 28.1% on an average field of 15.1; Royal Ascot 29.0% on an average field of 18.2; Galway 30.5% on an average field of 14.6. The dearest charged 72% more than the cheapest, race for race, across 276 races. The average field is shown beside each bar; the dearer meetings tend to run bigger fields, though not in strict order. Data to the end of the newest meeting in the set. Research, not tips.

Headline races

The feature raceChampion Hurdle (Tue, G1)
Queen Mother Champion Chase (Wed, G1)
Stayers' Hurdle (Thu, G1)
Cheltenham Gold Cup (Fri, G1)

Our Cheltenham coverage

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