Cheltenham Races

/ Editor / 12 January 2010 / Leave a Comment

Every year in mid-March, a sleepy town in Gloucestershire comes to life as the Cheltenham Festival comes to town.

The four-day Festival of National Hunt racing not only attracts the best horses in the sport to the many races on offer during the fixture, but is also one of the major international betting events of the year.

Cheltenham racecourse sits beneath the towering Cleeve Hill, giving the track an amphitheatre-like quality and an atmosphere when filled with over 67,000 spectators that is unlike any other racing festival in the world.

Each of the four days of the Festival has a particular feature event: the first day stages the Champion Hurdle, the second day the Champion Chase, the penultimate day the World Hurdle, and, on the fourth and final day, the thrilling Cheltenham Gold Cup. This is one of the biggest betting races on the calendar in which horses attract money from all corners of the globe.

One of the main charms of the Cheltenham Festival is that it brings together the masses of British and Irish racing fans in a highly competitive but friendly rivalry. For most Irish jumps fans, winning at the Cheltenham Festival is even more coveted than taking their own Irish National or Punchestown races. Cheltenham races are the centre of the jumping fan's universe. Just as football fans go to Wembley, cricket fans go to Lords, and golf fans flock to St Andrews, so racing fans cannot really call themselves true jumps supporters until they have made at least one 'pilgrimage' to the Cheltenham races for the Festival.

Cheltenham do stage other racing days throughout the winter season with major events in both November and December, but the principal preparations all focus around the races in March, when the town is literally swamped with visitors. It is often impossible to find a bed within 25 square miles of the racecourse!

Placing a bet makes the races so exciting. Ante-post odds are available for all the major Cheltenham Festival races from as far as 12 months in advance of the race but the odds fluctuate dramatically along with the fortunes of the individual runners in the weeks and months leading up to the big day.

Many great horses from both sides of the Irish Sea have claimed legendary status at Cheltenham, probably none more so than Ireland's immortal Arkle, who dominated the Cheltenham Gold Cup through much of the 1960s.

Great races such as the Champion Hurdle battles between Sea Pigeon, Night Nurse and Monksfield in the late 1970s, Badsworth Boy's dominance of the Champion Chase in the 1980s, trainer Michael Dickinson achieving the seemingly impossible in saddling the first five home in the 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and more recently Best Mate's three Gold Cup victories, continue to bestow upon Cheltenham races an almost mythical status.

In 2010, the mouth-watering prospect of Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Denman and Kauto Star going head-to-head once again, combined with the tremendous variety of odds on offer for anyone interested in placing a bet, ensures that the build up to the races will be as exciting, if not more so, than any other year.

Click here for the latest news and information surrounding this years Cheltenham Festival.