Cheltenham Festival 2026
Cheltenham Festival 2026
The 2026 Cheltenham Festival (10-13 March) saw four days of top-class jump racing. Ireland retained the Prestpury Cup with 15 winners coming from Irish trainers compared to 13 from the United Kingdom. All four of the feature races at the Festival were claimed by Irish trainers.
Gaelic Warrior's impressive eight-length win in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup saw jockey Paul Townend become the winning-most rider in the race’s history with five victories. Irish trainer Willie Mullins joined Arkle’s legendary trainer Tom Dreaper in the Gold Cup history books with five titles apiece.
Home By The Lee, trained by Joseph O’Brien and ridden by JJ Slevin, won Thursday’s Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle on his fifth attempt. Wednesday’s BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase was won by Il Etait Temps, ridden by Paul Townend for Willie Mullins, who also teamed up to win the Unibet Champion Hurdle on the opening day with mega mare Lossiemouth.
After catching up with all the 2026 news, scroll down to enjoy more memorable Festival moments and read about the legendary Cheltenham horses who have made their mark in racing history.
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Cheltenham Festival daily reports
A mighty mare is crowned champion, a 208/1 birthday double and we bid farewell to a jumping legend: Cheltenham day 1
‘I’m speechless’: Teenager rides his first Festival winner and a pony-sized 66/1 shot springs a shock on Cheltenham day 2
If at first you don’t succeed… It’s fifth time lucky for the Stayers’ winner and H&H columnist strikes with a 40/1 Festival winner on Cheltenham day 3
‘It was just a matter of not falling off’: Cheltenham Gold Cup winner is a class apart, in a race tinged with sadness
When was the Cheltenham Festival 2026?
The dates of the Cheltenham Festival 2026 were Tuesday 10 March to Friday 13 March. Gates opened at 10.30am each day, with the first race at 1.20pm and the last race at 5.20pm.
Cheltenham Festival essential info
Hotels and holiday homes near Cheltenham Racecourse for all budgets
How to get to Cheltenham Racecourse
What to wear to Cheltenham Races – outfits for ladies and gents
Remaining Cheltenham Festival 2026 ticket options now that Gold Cup Day has sold out
Celebrating Cheltenham’s legendary horses
Golden Miller: the five-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner whose parents never won a race
Arkle: the ‘immortal’ racing superstar who won three Cheltenham Gold Cups
Cheltenham Gold Cup heroes: Best Mate – ‘We used to get piles of letters and cards for him sent by fans’
Cheltenham Gold Cup heroes: Kauto Star – ‘Without any doubt he was the horse of a lifetime’
Cheltenham Festival heroes: Istabraq – ‘He gave us brilliant days and great memories’
Cheltenham Festival heroes: Dawn Run – ‘She despised nothing more than the spectre of defeat’
Memorable Cheltenham Festival moments
‘I can’t believe it’: Rachael Blackmore becomes first female to win Cheltenham Gold Cup
Rachael Blackmore becomes first female to claim Cheltenham Festival leading jockey title
Honeysuckle provides poignant victory on fairytale end to her career
‘An absolute superstar’: Constitution Hill blitzes his Champion Hurdle rivals at the Cheltenham Festival
How many races at the Cheltenham Festival?
The Festival is an embarrassment of riches for racing fans with 12 Grade One races spread across the four days. In total there are 28 races held, with seven on each day. Those are split between 13 chases, 13 hurdles, plus one bumper (a National Hunt race without jumps) and the cross-country chase.
The most prestigious race at the meeting is Friday’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, which has been won by such iconic horses as Arkle, Golden Miller, Best Mate, Kauto Star and Denman. History was made in 2022 when Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival on board A Plus Tard, trained by Henry de Bromhead and owned by Cheveley Park Stud.
Other top races held at the festival include the Champion Hurdle (Tuesday), the Queen Mother Champion Chase (Wednesday) and the Stayers’ Hurdle (Thursday).
The Cheltenham Festival also hosts the Festival Hunters’ Chase, formerly called the Foxhunter Chase, for amateur riders. Around the same course and distance as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, it typically follows the famous race on the final day of The Festival.
Which jockey has ridden the most Cheltenham Festival winners?
Ruby Walsh has ridden 59 winners at the Cheltenham Festival and was crowned leading jockey at the Festival on 11 occasions between 2004 and 2017 before retiring in 2019. On two occasions he set the record of riding seven winners across the four-day Festival, the first time in 2009 and again in 2016.
Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to claim the leading jockey award at the Festival after riding six winners in 2021. In 2022 she added becoming the first female jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Champion Hurdle and to her outstanding list of career highlights.
Which horse, trainer and jockey have won the most Cheltenham Gold Cups?
Golden Miller holds the record for winning the most Cheltenham Gold Cups. He won the race five years in a row, from 1932 to 1936, and in 1934 he became the only horse ever to win the Grand National at Aintree and the Gold Cup in the same season.
Cottage Rake (1948-1950), Arkle (1963-1965) and Best Mate (2002-2004) all won the race three times in consecutive years, claiming their place in the history books.
In 2026 Irish trainer Willie Mullins joined Arkle’s trainer Tom Dreaper in the history book with five Gold Cup successes apiece.
Jockey Paul Townend is the winning-most rider in the race’s history with five victories: Al Boum Photo (2019, 2020), Galopin des Champs (2023, 2024) and Gaelic Warrior (2026).
History of the Cheltenham Festival
W A Baring Bingham purchased the Prestbury Park area where the racecourse sits, in 1881, with the intention of turning it into a stud farm, before realising there was an appetite for horseracing in the area.
As a result, he decided to host a race meeting in 1898 — it proved popular enough to host more racing there the following year, and it continued to grow in popularity until, in 1902, it played host to a National Hunt Festival in mid-April.
Two years later the National Hunt Chase was moved to Prestbury Park for successive years, having first run at Market Harborough in 1860, and in 1911 Cheltenham Racecourse became the race’s permanent home.
The 1911 running of this fixture was classed as the first Cheltenham Festival as we think of it today.
