Cheltenham Festival To Remain A Four-Day National Hunt Extravaganza

The Jockey Club have announced that the Cheltenham Festival will continue to be run in March as a four-day National Hunt meeting instead of expanding to five days, following extensive consultation with a host of sources over the last six months....

A jewel in the crown of the National Hunt sphere, the Cheltenham Festival has become one of the iconic events in the sporting calendar, and with so much excitement around the spring extravaganza it was under discussion whether the current four-day event would be extended to five days from March 2024.

However, the Jockey Club, who own Cheltenham Racecourse, have elected to keep the festival as a four-day event for the foreseeable future after engaging with thousands of stakeholders, trainers, jockeys, racing staff, the local community and many more people along the way before announcing their findings on Monday.

The 2023 Cheltenham Festival is set to be an epic four-day event and with huge crowds flocking to Prestbury Park to see the likes of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Queen Mother Champion Chase then it's set to be another exhilarating week of top notch National Hunt racing.

However, many in the racing bubble expected the event to be extended to five days with the possibility of racing taking place on the Saturday as well as the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but today's announcement has put to bed for now the idea a five-day festival will be on the horizon.

Ian Renton, who runs Cheltenham Racecourse as Managing Director of The Jockey Club’s West Region, said: "At The Jockey Club we care deeply about the long-term future of our sport and its role in society. That’s a mission that enables us to think differently when making decisions.

“While we explored the financial benefits and an opportunity to reach new audiences, we also found a number of counterpoints to this. For example, it is clear that it would be challenging from a turf management perspective, without further work on the track, and on balance we still feel 28 races over four days is the right format.

“This research allows us to do much more than simply answer the question of whether extending the Festival is the right thing to do. We will now evaluate all the insight with a view to improving our facilities, investing in new on-course activations and giving our loyal fanbase, participants, owners and other stakeholders the best possible experience at Cheltenham Racecourse.

“We are extremely grateful to everyone who has taken part in this process and have welcomed the opportunity to listen to racehorse owners, participants, Jockey Club colleagues, the local community, our partners, loyal racing fans and many others with a passion for our sport and The Festival.”