The History of the Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival is without a doubt one of the most important meetings of the National Hunt season. This four day festival sees some of the most brilliant old-timers and promising new talent come together for an incredible festival of racing. Whether you’re already a horse racing buff, or you’re just dipping your toes into the sport, there’s always something to learn about the history of this fascinating sport. The Cheltenham Festival has a remarkably long past and has gone through some changes along the way. Here’s the story of how we got to where we are today.

How It All Began

 The birthplace of the Cheltenham Festival was not where you might expect, it was actually in Market Harborough. The year was 1860 and the race that everybody wanted to see was called the National Hunt Chase. The full title of the festival was the Grand National Hunt Meeting (though had nothing to do with the Aintree Grand National that we know today). One of the races did indeed take place in Cheltenham the following year, but rarely did the races take place here after that. The meeting in its entirety took place over a handful of different courses, though since the turn of the century it has taken place almost entirely at Warwick Racecourse.

It wasn’t until 1904 that Cheltenham became a regular host to parts of the meeting, taking the bulk of the races that year and the following year on a relatively new course located in Prestbury Park. A couple of years later it was back to Warwick for the festival, whilst huge changes were made to the Cheltenham course. Owing to the huge popularity of the festival a fourth stand was created to accommodate extra guests. The course also received a state of the art drainage system to ensure the ground never got too heavy.  Changes were also made to the stable block, parade ring and guest facilities, making the Prestbury Park course stand out as one of the finest in the country. This overhaul pricked the ears of the National Hunt Committee so much so that it was decided the meeting would take place every year from 1911 onwards at the Prestbury Park course.

What To Expect Nowadays

Though much has changed since the Cheltenham of 1911, there’s still a surprising amount that remains much as it ever was. There are a whole slew of races, that we’ll get onto in a minute, that remain the same as before. Largely the course itself is unchanged, though improvements have been made to the grandstands over the years to accommodate the steadily growing crowds. Perhaps the biggest difference is that nowadays there are far more modern ways of finding out who’s got the best chances at the horse racing. Sites like OLBG offer tips based on information from a panel of tipsters. Before it was difficult to work out which horses were in with a chance unless you regularly committed to studying form, or had a friend with insider knowledge. The internet has certainly made the sport far more accessible for those who don’t have the time, or perhaps the inclination, to spend hours studying previous races.

Notable Races

 The oldest race that still takes place to this day is called The Stayers’ Hurdle. It’s a Grade 1 National Hunt race that first ran in 1912. The course is a distance of 3 miles and horses must navigate 12 hurdles on their way through the race. The next oldest race that still remains is the Cheltenham Gold Cup. This race was first run in 1924 and though it was originally a supporting race for the County Hurdle, it quickly superseded it to become the main event. To this day it is still used by some trainers as a sort of practice run for the Grand National. There are other races that have seen few changes since the 1920s as well, meaning that even now in the 21st century, you can experience history in motion.