Cheltenham Racecourse is a left-handed, oval-shaped British horse racing venue in the Cotswolds Hills of Gloucestershire. Widely regarded as the home of UK National Hunt action, the Cheltenham Festival is held over four days in March and is the premier jumps meeting in the British Isles.
Cheltenham horse racing events are a supreme test for the equine athletes taking part, with stamina essential for the extremely undulating course. Cleeve Hill is climbed in the back straight, before a downhill run to the home bend and the famous Cheltenham uphill run-in to the winning post. A full circuit of the track in Cheltenham races is about a mile-and-a-half. There is the Old Course, the New Course on its inside and the Cross Country Cross within that. All are used throughout the season and during the Cheltenham Festival where key races include the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Confirmed races in plain text. Confirmed pattern races in bold text. Unconfirmed races in grey text.
The chase track at Cheltenham Racecourse is very complicated. It can be very much a front-runners race because of the difficulty of the fences and the balance your horse needs for them. The calibre there for equine athletes is huge so the pace is fast and there is zero time to make mistakes, they’re costly, so you need a sharp jumper.
The hurdle track at Cheltenham doesn’t have much room. You need a midfield-runner that’s wise and calculated because they might not see much around them given the traffic. They need to be sharp because if you're behind when you start going up the hill it’s so hard. If you’re not at least on the tails of the front then you’ll struggle to have a squeak.
The famous Cheltenham hill at the end is so tough. When you’re flying and have lots of petrol it goes quickly, but if you haven’t had a breather and are playing catchup, you get half way up and you know you’re done for. That finishing post can feel a long way away.
