Cheltenham Festival 2026: Essential Guide To Jump Racing's Big Week
12 March 2018
By.
Cornelius Lysaght
BBC horse racing reporter
Cheltenham Festival
Venue: Cheltenham Racecourse Date: 13-16 March
Coverage: Full coverage on BBC Radio 5 live; continued BBC Radio 5 live sports extra; live text updates on BBC Sport site
It's upon us: the Cheltenham Festival, the most crucial week of the dive racing year when most of the best nationwide hunt horses do battle for champion honours.
Nowadays, however, the Festival is no longer simply a significant horse racing occasion; it has actually protected its own increasingly substantial position in the British sporting calendar as a whole.
One illustration: I am celebrating my 35th anniversary of working there. Back in 1983 trainer Michael Dickinson managed what was considered a barely reliable 1-2-3-4-5 in the Gold Cup - the order's a great one for particular club quizzes, so here goes: Bregawn, Captain John, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck and Ashley House - and, that year, the average presence was only about 24,000 per afternoon over 3 days.
In 2018, the 14th Festival arranged to be staged over four days, that average will be more than 60,000 people. Additionally, the quantity of airtime offered over by radio and TV, plus the space for editorial and promotions online and in newspapers, has actually outgrown all acknowledgment.
Perhaps the greatest single modification from 1983 is the quantity of success for Irish stables. Then it was 5 wins from 18 races, although that figure wasn't equated to for 10 years, and in 1989 the visitors withstood 'nil points'. Today, hopes of an enhancement on 2017's success in the BetBright Anglo-Irish challenge, with a record 19 wins from 28 races, is thought about practical.
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Cheltenham race schedule & BBC coverage
Here's my guide to the week ahead ...
First things first: the weather condition
It is frequently stated that because of its position nestling in the foothills of the Cotswold Hills, the health club town of Cheltenham has its own micro environment.
That may in some cases hold true, but it didn't use when the 'Beast from the East' and Storm Emma had their recent encounter in Britain; as somewhere else, snow wanders collected, some five-feet deep around the fences and obstacles, and temperature levels at one point plunged to -17 C.
It's estimated 500 tonnes of snow had to be cleared from the track and public areas integrated, and the results of that rainfall, plus more rain, suggests the Festival is set to start on the softest racing surface seen for the first day in more than 25 years.
The storm from Ireland: Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott look more powerful than ever
Willie Mullins is the champ fitness instructor of Irish dive racing, while his arch-rival Gordon Elliott was the titleholder at the 2017 Cheltenham Festival for the very first time, with six of his home nation's successes. Between them, the pair have 15 of the 19 Irish-trained likely favourites this time.
The Elliott team - lots of with jockeys using the maroon and white silks of the Gigginstown House Stud operation, owned by airline company tycoon Michael O'Leary - includes Gigginstown's Samcro, who appears at arrivals with the thickest cloud of hype.
The horse was intentionally called Samcro by his breeder - after the Sons Of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original from the US tv series Sons of Anarchy - in an attempt to bring in O'Leary, who is said to like names with effective undertones.
Unbeaten in 7 races, consisting of a point-to-point, Samcro is an Irish 'banker' in day 2's Ballymore Novices Hurdle as he heads the list of Elliott runners along with Apple's Jade - trained by Mullins prior to a high-profile fallout with O'Leary in 2016 - who goes for a repeat in the OLGB Mares Hurdle (the first day).
Meanwhile, Mullins has something of a 'lender' of his own in Getabird, all the rage for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices Hurdle, the opening race of the entire week, the moment when that well-known 'Cheltenham holler' goes up from the crowd as months of anticipation finally concerns an end.
Like a bulk of the stable's most significant hopes, Getabird will be the install of Ruby Walsh, the Festival's most effective jockey with 56 wins, and leading rider for 11 of the last 14 years; he's simply back from a lack of more than three months because of a broken right leg.
The Mullins challenge also consists of three high-profile runners looking to regain their mojos: Faugheen, Yorkhill (both Unibet Champion Hurdle) and Douvan (Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase).
Faugheen, the injury-ravaged Champion Hurdler of 2015, has actually suffered two recent defeats and will wear cheek pieces to help concentration; Yorkhill, last season's JLT Chase winner, has rather lost his method; while Douvan, twice a Festival winner, will be racing for the very first time considering that flopping in the 2017 Champion Chase, when clashing with Altior in the race this time or lining up in the Ryanair Chase.
Altior just one star in Henderson challenge
Just as Messrs Elliott and Mullins dominate the Irish attack, the stable of Nicky Henderson, based at Lambourn in Berkshire, has a bulk of the foot soldiers manning the home defences.
Henderson, who's won more Festival races than any other trainer - 58 - has the major gamers in three of the week's four primary functions, and is fancied to finish what would be an unmatched treble.
Buveur D'Air, owned by JP McManus, looks exceptional as he defends his Champion Hurdle title, although Henderson and McManus are also represented by serial runner-up in the race My Tent Or Yours; Altior and jockey Nico de Boinville seek their third Festival successes together in the Queen Mother Champion Chase; while Might Bite and de Boinville effort to sign up with an elite band who've won leaping's King George VI Chase and Timico-sponsored Gold Cup in the same season.
To blend metaphors, Might Bite, owned by the Knot Again Partnership headed by Kent County Cricket Club chairman Simon Philip, is a great all-rounder, although is susceptible to near run-outs.
The nine-year-old has twice nearly got defeat from the jaws of triumph when veering off a straight line late on at Cheltenham, notably in the RSA Chase of 2017; were these shenanigans ensured not to be duplicated, his big-race chances would be significantly much shorter as he handles Native River, Our Duke and co. - although not in 2015's winner Sizing John, who is hurt.
Talking of the Gold Cup, here's a stat for you: Willie Mullins, who is because of run last year's fourth Djakadam, Total Recall and the well-touted Killultagh Vic, has never won the race, and has - quite extremely - had horses complete runner-up 6 times consisting of Djakadam twice.
Day 3: move over St Patrick, the people's horses remain in town
They call it St Patrick's Thursday, but, not least because it's on 15 March, day three could nearly be re-named 'old heroes' Thursday this year as Cue Card and The New One strut their things at their seventh Festival.
For Cue Card, a two-time Festival winner - although possibly best-known for falling at the third-last fence in the last 2 Gold Cups - his look in the Ryanair Chase is likely to be his swansong at the fixture.
The dive racing public has actually taken the 12-year-old to their hearts for his success in landing a total of 16 races, of course, but likewise for his capability to get better in the face of misfortune, like the falls.
Success for the veteran, trained by Colin Tizzard for octogenarian owner Jean Bishop, and the mount of jockey Paddy Brennan, versus defending champ Un Des Sceaux and the rest would, as they say, raise the roof.
Unlike Cue Card, who missed a couple of years, the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained The New One, who lines up with the trainer's jockey boy Sam in the Sunbets Stayers Hurdle, has actually not missed a Celebration because taking in his very first in 2012; his CV includes a beginners' difficulty success and type figures of 3-5-4-5 in succeeding Champion Hurdles.
Any other organization
Britain's youngest trainer Amy Murphy, 26, does not have ammo to equal some of her competitors, however she does have up-and-coming hurdler Kalashnikov, among the favourites for the Supreme Novices Hurdle (day one).
Rising-star jockey Bryony Frost is because of renew her respected partnership with Black Corton in the RSA Chase (day 2).
Some bookmakers' price quotes of just how much will be bet throughout the Festival appear a bit wild, and ₤ 350m is most likely a reasonable call: the bookies appear to a lot of fear Footpad, well-backed for the Racing Post Arkle Trophy (day one).
Champion racehorse-turned-stallion Frankel has his first runner at the Cheltenham Festival when the Dan Skelton-trained Solo Saxophone lines up in the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle (day 2).
In a year dominated by the bigger names, owners Caron and Paul Chapman, fitness instructor Jedd O'Keeffe and jockey Joe Colliver fly the flag for those with a lower-profile, with Sam Spinner in the Stayers Hurdle (day 3).
Sam Spinner and Gold Cup hope Definitly Red (called by a bad speller, apparently), both Yorkshire-trained, look for to continue the current resurgence of jump racing's northern circuit.
And finally...109-year-old racing fan Ralph Hoare finally gets the possibility to tick the off his bucket list of things to do when he attends Gold Cup day.
Coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio live sports extra and the BBC Sport site all week.
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