Four days at Cheltenham, 16 to 19 March 2027, opening on Champion Day and closing with the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup on the Friday.
The Cheltenham Festival runs at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2027, the four days of jump racing’s championship meeting.
The Festival began in 1860 as the National Hunt Chase, run at Market Harborough. It settled at Cheltenham after a new course was laid out at Prestbury Park in 1902.
The Gold Cup was added in 1924, at first as a supporting race for the County Hurdle, and grew into the championship of jump racing.
Irish racegoers come in numbers large enough to make the result a national question in two countries. The Cheltenham roar goes up as the starter raises the tape for the opening race, loud enough to be felt through the stands. Almost everyone in the enclosures has backed an opinion on the winner.
Each day carries its own championship. The Champion Hurdle is on Tuesday and the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday. The Stayers’ Hurdle and the Ryanair Chase fall on St Patrick’s Thursday, and the Gold Cup on Friday.
The four days hold 28 races, for prize money second only to the Grand National.