The Cheltenham Festival will take place from March 12th to March 15th at the Cheltenham Racecourse. The top jockeys will battle for £3.76m of prize. Ruby Walsh was the top jockey the last 4 years.
Current
Champion Hurdle
The Festival will start with a spectacular Champion Hurdles where three former Champions will battle out the victory. Rock On Ruby is the champion of 2012 and will try to defend his title. However, another favourite is the excellent Hurricane Fly who won the race in 2011 and Binocular who finished 4th last year, but won the Champion Hurdles in 2010.
Queen Mother Champion Chase
Another highlight of the Cheltenham Festival is the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The big favourite to win the race is Sprinter Sacre. The dominate winner of last season’s Arkle Chase is the most exciting horse to have raced on the National Hunt circuit in years. However, Sizing Europe can’t be underestimated. The horse already won some races this season and as a former Champion Chaser has to be given some respect.
David Nicholson Mares Hurdle
The big favourite to win the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle is Quevega. Just like Sprinter Sacre, Quevega has been one of the most dominant horses in the last years. This year the horse is going for the fifth win in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle, ridden by Ruby Walsh.
Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the races everyone is waiting for at the Festival. It’s the first time that neither Kauto Star or Denman will be featured in the race. Bobs Worth has won four out of four at Cheltenham and won the RSA Chase at the Festival last season. Another horse to consider is Sir Des Champs which has two wins at the Festival and many expect him to be a major player in the Gold Cup this year. Silviniaco Conti is a secret favourite and attempts to give trainer Paul Nicholls a fifth Gold Cup. The horse, however, has only ever competed once at Cheltenham.
No shows booked at the moment.
from £History
The first Cheltenham Festival originated in 1860 when a National Hunt Race was held at Market Harborough and was titles the Grand National Hunt. This took place at Cheltenham in 1861 and returned again in 1904 and 1905. PrestburyPark was established for this event and it has been held there ever since 1911. The main event is the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which was established in 1924, with the Champions Hurdle Race established in 1927. Since then there has been the Queen Mother Chase Event in 1959 and the Stayers Hurdle, which was first run in 1972.
In 2001, the festival was cancelled due to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK. In 2008, the second day of racing was abandoned due to bad weather, with that days racing being run on the third and fourth day of the festival. In 2005 there was a fourth day added to the event so there could be a Championship race run on each day climaxing with the Gold Cup on the final day.
Cheltenham does not have a history like that of Ascot and other top flat racing events as it attracts mostly British and Irish trained horses. The most famous foreign trained horse is possibly Baracouda who has won the World Hurdle twice.
