It’s one of the most famous racing festivals in the world, and one of the highlights of the UK sporting calendar. The Cheltenham Festival has long been at the heart of the British jump racing season, and can actually claim to be older than that other grand old dame of the National Hunt season: the Grand National at Aintree. The Grand Annual Steeplechase as the west country venue actually predates it’s northern rival by two years, having first been held way back in the year 1834. Yet the festival, at least in a form recognisable to today’s event, didn’t really take shape until the early twentieth century. These days it’s a four-day festival of racing that is difficult to rival anywhere around the globe. And from a business perspective, some of the numbers are staggering.
Cheltenham Festival numbers
According to the Jockey Club, the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom, the numbers behind the four-day Cheltenham Festival are eye-catching. The feature race of the event – the Gold Cup itself – hands out a cool £625,000 in prize money, while the Champion Hurdle (£400,000) and the Queen Mother Champion Chase (£300,000) are also incredibly lucrative events. Most of that windfall goes to the owners and trainers, although the jockeys themselves are said, depending upon the particular deal they are racing under, to take about 10% of any winnings.
Cheltenham Festival betting numbers
Then, from a wagering perspective, the Cheltenham Festival betting numbers are also staggering: an estimated £600 million is said to be placed across the festival’s 28 races, which works at about £21 million per race. Of course the split is far from even with the festival’s biggest races – the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup – attracting more than their fair share of the wagering. With seemingly every sports betting site on the market offering up free bets and other awards to attract players to their Cheltenham Festival betting coverage, it’s not wonder that this spring sporting event remains one of the most heavily bet on spectacles of the entire sporting calendar.
The local economy
But it’s not just the British and Irish horse racing community that benefits. Local educational institution The University of Gloucester conducted research into the value of the Festival to the local community, and found that, in 2022, £274 million in value was added. And again according the Jockey Club, we can see how these numbers stack up. Average attendance over the four days is reportedly 65,000 people, which includes 40,000 hospitality guests. As a result, 350 chefs are needed, while a catering team of 3,800 can be found operating on each day. With 350 managers and 500 students employed from local colleges, it’s not hard to see why the Festival is such as boon to the local economy.
This year’s event
The 2024 edition of the famed festival will take place at the world-renowned Cheltenham racecourse over four days, commencing on Tuesday 12th March. It all kicks off on Champions Day, culminating on Friday – Gold Cup day itself – featuring the most famous event of the four-day Festival, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The main contenders at Cheltenham 2024
Whether or not you choose to closely study the form guides throughout the National Hunt season, there will be names that you will struggle to avoid in the run up to what is perhaps the pinnacle of the jump racing season. There is disappointment that Constitution Hill will not be fit enough to attempt to claim another Champion Hurdle success. Energumene will be back to try to claim a third successive Queen Mother Champion Chase, while it’s another Willie Mullins horse, Galopin Des Champs, who will be looking to back up the 2023 win in the festival’s feature race, the Gold Cup.
Away from the actual horses, all eyes will be on legendary trainer Willie Mullins, who has claimed the top trainer award on nine of the previous eleven occasions. And as the Irishman is currently on a staggering 94 winners, a sub-plot of the four days will be whether Mullins can reach that magical century milestone. As for the top jockey award, Ireland’s Paul Townend claimed the prize last time round, and is expected to do the same here.
And there’s one other interesting aside. Since 2014 Ireland and Great Britain have been competing for the Prestbury Cup, which is awarded to the region with the most winners of the fours days of the festival. And Ireland have been the dominant force, claiming the prize on seven of the ten occasions it has been contested, including on each of the last four editions. This really is an event that is beloved of the Irish.
