Dates, race times, course guide and where to watch

The jump racing season builds towards the Cheltenham Festival when the very best horses and one of the most knowledgeable crowds in sport gather for four days of revelry and drama.

The cream of the crop from Ireland, led by Willie Mullins’ ever-strong team, will do battle against the best of British with trainer Dan Skelton likely to provide most resistance from the home team.

Each day features a championship race: the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday, the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday, the Stayers’ Hurdle on Thursday and of course Friday’s Gold Cup.

Here, Telegraph Sport gives you the run-down on the entire meeting.

When is the 2026 Cheltenham Festival? Start and end dates

The Cheltenham Festival begins on Tuesday March 10 and ends on Friday March 13.The Festival was extended from three to four days in 2005. There have been tentative proposals to add a fifth day, but the idea is unpopular among racing’s core audience. Moving Gold Cup day to the Saturday has been mooted as a compromise, but for now we stick to the same format.

How many races are there?

There are 28 races across the week, seven each day.

Race schedule: Times for every race in the 2026 Festival

Tuesday

1.20: Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £150,000 | 2m 87y | eight hurdles | Old Course

2.00: Arkle Chase (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £200,000 | 2m | 13 fences | Old Course

2.40: Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (Grade 3)
Race conditions: £80,000 | 2m 87y | eight hurdles | Old Course

3.20: Ultima Handicap Chase (Grade 3)
Race conditions: £150,000 | 3m 1f | 20 fences | Old Course

4.00: Champion Hurdle (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £450,000 | 2m 87y | eight hurdles | Old Course

4.40: Festival Plate Handicap (Grade 3)
Race conditions: £150,000 | 2m 4f 87y | 17 fences | Old Course

5.20: National Hunt Chase (Grade 2)
Race conditions: £100,00 | 3m 5f | 23 fences | Old Course

Wednesday

1.20: Turners Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £150,000 | 2m5f | 10 hurdles | Old Course

2.00: Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £200,000 | 3m½f | 20 fences | Old Course

2.40: Coral Cup (Grade 3. handicap)
Race conditions: £100,000 | 2m5f | 10 hurdles | Old Course

3.20: Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase (Listed)
Race conditions: £75,000 | 3m6f | 32 obstacles | Old Course

4.00: Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £400,000 | 2m | 13 fences | Old Course

4.40: Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase (Grade 3)
Race conditions: £150,000 | 2m½f | 14 fences | Old Course

5.20: Weatherbys Champion Bumper (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £80,000 | 2m½f | 14 fences | Old Course

Thursday

1.20: Ryanair Mares Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2)
Race conditions: £105,000 | 2m1f | 8 hurdles | New Course

2.00: Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase (Grade 2)
Race conditions: £125,000 | 2m4f | 17 fences | New Course

2.40: Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £120,000 | 2m4f | 10 hurdles | New Course

3.20: Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £325,000 | 3m | 12 hurdles | New course

4.00: Ryanair Chase (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £375,000 | 2m4½f | 17 fences | New Course

4.40: Pertemps Final (Grade 3, handicap)
Race conditions: £100,000 | 3m | 12 hurdles | New course

5.20: JRL Kim Muir Challenge Cup (Listed, handicap)
Race conditions: £75,000 | 3m2f | 21 fences | New Course

Friday

1.20: JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £150,000 | 2m1f | 8 hurdles | New Course

2.00: BetMGM County Hurdle (Grade 3, handicap)
Race conditions: £98,370 (2024) | 2m1f| 8 hurdles | New Course

2.40: Paddy Power Mares’ Chase (Grade 2)
Race conditions: £120,000 | 2m4½f | 17 fences | New Course

3.20: Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £150,000 | 3m | 12 hurdles | New course

4.00: Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup (Grade 1)
Race conditions: £625,000 | 3m2½f | 22 fences | New Course

4.40: St James’s Place Hunter Chase (Listed)
Race conditions: £50 | 2m4½f | 17 fences | New Course

5.20: Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle
Race conditions: £75,000 | 2m4½f | 10 hurdles | New Course

How to watch the Cheltenham Festival on TV and streaming

The first six races of each day will be broadcast live on ITV1. For full coverage of the entire meeting, including the final race of each day, you will need to subscribe to Racing TV.

ITV and Racing TV also offer streaming services via their respective apps and websites, as well as traditional television broadcast.

The racecourse is located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The setting is spectacular, set in a natural amphitheatre with he towering Cleeve Hill offering a bucolic backdrop to the top-class action on the track

The town is about a two and a half hours from London by car, with trains from the capital taking just over two hours.

The town has a large train station that is serviced by lines from the north of England via Birmingham, from the south by Bristol and south Wales.

Contrary to other top racecourses, Cheltenham features two distinct courses that present different challenges.

Old Course

The first two days of the festival are run over the Old Course. Simplistically, this track presents a much sterner test of speed, being sharper with very few sections where horse and jockey will be going in a straight line.

Balance and pace are therefore key attributes for success on the Old Course, especially on the tricky downhill section just before the turn for home. This is particularly the case on chase track, where the tricky second-last comes up immediately after the turn.

It is also a tricky jumping test with one mistake often proving terminal to a horses chances. Owing to the speed and relative shortness of the run-in up the hill, the track tends to suit front-runners who can get in good rhythm out in front. Horses rarely come from the rear to win races on the Old Course.

New Course

It is stamina, not speed, that comes to the fore on the New Course.

A much longer straight means a sapping test up the hill in the closing stages, opening the door for more horses to come from oiff the pace if those in front get their tactics wrong.

Jumping is always vital but it is slightly less important on the Old Course as there is more time to recover. This is especially the case on the hurdles track, where just one hurdle is jumped between the top of the hill and the turn for home.

Front-runners do have a good record on this track – over both hurdles and jumps – but those in mid-division or even held up well off the pace are not penalised in the way they are in the Old Course.

Cross-country Course

Used for just one race over the week, the cross-country course presents a unique test of jumping. Horses will need to complete three laps of a course that is roughly the shape of a figure of eight.

The jumps themselves are a collection of distinct test, featuring cheese wedges, railed hedges, ditches, banks and even an Grand National-style fence.

There are a variety of dining options at Cheltenham if you want your ticket to include lunch, starting with a two-course meal for £385 in the Moscow Flyer Restaurant (named after the two-time Champion Chase winner) all the way up to £1,365 to spend Gold Cup day in the Panoramic Restaurant which offers a five-course à la carte menu. There are a host of other options in between, and you can click here to find out more. Enquires are also open for private box options.

Ticket prices vary according to enclosure and the day you wish to attend (Gold Cup Friday is always the most expensive). The cheapest admission ticket of the week is £54 for entry to the Best Mate Enclosure on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Tickets in the Club Enclosure will cost £109 on the first three days and £127 on Friday (there is a 10 per cent discount for bookings of 25 tickets or more). For an extra £110 you can include a reserved seat in the Grandstand with your Club Enclosure ticket. Tickets in Tattersalls are in the middle ground. Click here to see the full price range.

Cheltenham Festival parking

There is a park and ride from Arle Court, just off junction 11 of the M5, to the racecourse which will cost you £15. Parking at the course costs £20 and for larger vehicles £25.