Don Million

The Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival is the most anticipated event in the whole of the National Hunt season. Lasting over four days there is a total of 26 races, all of them with something special to offer and every day there is a major championship race.

The festival is steeped with tradition and its exciting history reaches back to 1902 when it was first run on the same course as it is today. One of the famous traditions is the Cheltenham Roar, a celebratory and deafening cheer that the day one spectators make as the ropes go up to start the first race of the festival which is the Supreme Novices Hurdle.

Unsurprisingly huge crowds of race goers turn up to experience the excitement. In fact over 200,000 are expected to turn up for the 2010 festival. Many of these will have travelled from Ireland as the festival is a favourite amongst the country’s many horse racing enthusiasts. The festival coincides with St Patrick’s Day which makes it a double cause for celebration. Naturally many of the horses are also Irish, and it is an occasion during which Irish horses seem to perform very well.

The most successful Irish trainer was Michael Vincent O’Brien who sadly died in 2009. His horses won Festival races on twenty one occasions and these wins included four Cheltenham Gold Cup winners. The County Hurdle, which he won on ten occasions, has been renamed the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle in his honour.

The Cheltenham Festival is also a favourite amongst the punters who will bet a staggering amount of money over the four days. Last year the total of on-course and off-course bets was in excess of half a billion pounds! Given the amount of ante-post Cheltenham betting that has been wagered already, this year the amount could be even higher.

Despite the complexity of organising such a festival as Cheltenham every year it runs incredibly smoothly. As well as the racing there are a number of excellent restaurants and additional events such as Ladies Day which features a ladies fashion competition. No other race meeting can beat the excitement and thrills that are the characteristic of the Cheltenham Festival.

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