Event for Irish and English
The Grand Cheltenham Festival, held in Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire in March every year is a very coveted part of the hunt season with all the 67,500 tickets sold out well before the event. The four day festival culminates the Cheltenham Gold Cup with many other popular events like Champion bumper, Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, RSA chase, Triumph Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Race etc. totaling to 26 races in all. The festival attracts many Irish people due to their close affinity with racing and also because the festival usually coincides with Saint Patrick’s Day. This festival is also known for extensive betting and the “Cheltenham Roar” of the over-enthusiastic army of devotees.
The Cheltenham festival, as we know it today, started in 1902, at Prestbury Park. The first National Hunt Steeplechase was introduced in 1904, which later came to be known as The Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1924. In 2005, the fourth day was announced in the event implying one championship race daily along with 5 other races with Gold Cup on the last day. This format is followed till date.
The Cheltenham festival mainly attracts British and Irish horses but French-trained horses have also done very well, the most popular being Baracouda. The top jockeys include Ruby Walsh, Robert Thornton, Graham Lee, Mick Fitzgerald, Tony McCoy and Barry Geraghty. Anthony Cosgriff, an Australian trainer plans to introduce Gorge, a novice hurdler, in 2010 Cheltenham Festival.
Though the Cheltenham festival has suffered sustained criticism from animal rights activists, the Cheltenham Festival continues to be a popular and much-awaited event for horse-racing fanatics. For more information, visit www.cheltenham-races.com where you can avail all the information regarding its history and the upcoming festival.