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 on 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 jump racing year when the majority of the finest nationwide hunt horses do battle for championship honours.
Nowadays, nevertheless, the Festival is no longer just a significant horse racing event; it has actually secured its own significantly significant position in the British sporting calendar as a whole.
One illustration: I am celebrating my 35th anniversary of working there. Back in 1983 fitness instructor Michael Dickinson pulled off what was thought about a hardly reliable 1-2-3-4-5 in the Gold Cup - the order's an one for particular club tests, so here goes: Bregawn, Captain John, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck and Ashley House - and, that year, the average attendance was just about 24,000 per afternoon over three days.
In 2018, the 14th Festival set up to be staged over 4 days, that average will be more than 60,000 people. Additionally, the amount of airtime provided over by radio and TV, plus the space for editorial and promotions online and in newspapers, has actually outgrown all recognition.
Perhaps the greatest single change from 1983 is the amount of success for Irish stables. Then it was five wins from 18 races, although that figure wasn't equated to for 10 years, and in 1989 the visitors endured 'nil points'. Today, hopes of an improvement on 2017's success in the BetBright Anglo-Irish difficulty, with a record 19 wins from 28 races, is considered practical.
Podcast: 5 live Cheltenham preview
Cheltenham race schedule & BBC protection
Here's my guide to the week ahead ...
First things initially: the weather
It is frequently stated that since of its position nestling in the foothills of the Cotswold Hills, the medspa town of Cheltenham has its own micro environment.
That may sometimes be the case, but it didn't use when the 'Beast from the East' and Storm Emma had their recent encounter in Britain; as in other places, snow drifts collected, some five-feet deep around the fences and obstacles, and temperatures at one point plunged to -17 C.
It's approximated 500 tonnes of snow needed to be cleared from the track and public areas integrated, and the impacts of that precipitation, plus further rain, indicates the Festival is set to begin on the softest racing surface seen for day one in more than 25 years.
The storm from Ireland: Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott look more powerful than ever
Willie Mullins is the champion 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 6 of his home country's successes. Between them, the pair have 15 of the 19 Irish-trained likely favourites this time.
The Elliott group - many with jockeys wearing the maroon and white silks of the Gigginstown House Stud operation, owned by airline company magnate 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 effort to draw in O'Leary, who is stated 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 in addition to Apple's Jade - trained by Mullins prior to a prominent 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 'banker' of his own in Getabird, all the rage for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices Hurdle, the opening race of the whole week, the minute when that famous 'Cheltenham holler' increases from the crowd as months of anticipation finally pertains to an end.
Like a majority of the stable's greatest hopes, Getabird will be the install of Ruby Walsh, the Festival's most successful jockey with 56 wins, and leading rider for 11 of the last 14 years; he's simply back from an absence of more than 3 months since of a damaged best leg.
The Mullins obstacle also consists of 3 high-profile runners wanting to restore 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 current defeats and will wear cheek pieces to assist concentration; Yorkhill, last season's JLT Chase winner, has actually rather lost his way; while Douvan, twice a Celebration 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 obstacle
Just as Messrs Elliott and Mullins dominate the Irish assault, the stable of Nicky Henderson, based at Lambourn in Berkshire, has a majority of the infantryman manning the home defences.
Henderson, who's won more Festival races than any other trainer - 58 - has the major gamers in 3 of the week's four primary features, and is fancied to finish what would be an unprecedented treble.
Buveur D'Air, owned by JP McManus, looks impressive as he safeguards his Champion Hurdle title, although Henderson and McManus are likewise represented by serial runner-up in the race My Tent Or Yours; Altior and jockey Nico de Boinville seek their 3rd Festival successes together in the Queen Mother Champion Chase; while Might Bite and de Boinville attempt to sign up with an elite band who have actually 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 fantastic all-rounder, although is susceptible to near run-outs.
The nine-year-old has twice nearly grabbed defeat from the jaws of triumph when veering off a straight line late on at Cheltenham, significantly in the RSA Chase of 2017; were these antics ensured not to be duplicated, his big-race chances would be considerably much shorter as he handles Native River, Our Duke and co. - although not in 2015's winner Sizing John, who is injured.
Broaching the Gold Cup, here's a stat for you: Willie Mullins, who is due to run last year's 4th Djakadam, Total Recall and the well-touted Killultagh Vic, has actually never won the race, and has - pretty extraordinarily - had horses complete runner-up six times including Djakadam two times.
Day 3: relocation over St Patrick, individuals's horses are in town
They call it St Patrick's Thursday, however, not least due to the fact that it's on 15 March, day 3 might practically 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 perhaps best-known for falling at the third-last fence in the last two Gold Cups - his appearance in the Ryanair Chase is likely to be his swansong at the component.
The jump racing public has taken the 12-year-old to their hearts for his success in landing an overall of 16 races, naturally, but likewise for his capacity to recover in the face of difficulty, like the falls.
Success for the veteran, trained by Colin Tizzard for octogenarian owner Jean Bishop, and the install of jockey Paddy Brennan, versus protecting champ Un Des Sceaux and the rest would, as they state, raise the roofing system.
Unlike Cue Card, who missed out on a number of years, the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained The New One, who lines up with the fitness instructor's jockey child Sam in the Sunbets Stayers Hurdle, has actually not missed a Celebration since taking in his very first in 2012; his CV includes a novices' hurdle success and type figures of 3-5-4-5 in successive Champion Hurdles.
Any other service
Britain's youngest fitness instructor Amy Murphy, 26, doesn't have ammunition to equal a few of her rivals, but she does have up-and-coming hurdler Kalashnikov, among the favourites for the Supreme Novices Hurdle (day one).
Rising-star jockey Bryony Frost is due to restore her prolific collaboration with Black Corton in the RSA Chase (day 2).
Some bookmakers' price quotes of just how much will be bet throughout the Festival seem a bit wild, and ₤ 350m is most likely a sensible call: the bookmakers seem to most fear Footpad, well-backed for the Racing Post Arkle Trophy (the first day).
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 larger names, owners Caron and Paul Chapman, trainer 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 (named by a bad speller, obviously), both Yorkshire-trained, seek to continue the recent resurgence of dive racing's northern circuit.
And finally...109-year-old racing fan Ralph Hoare finally gets the opportunity to tick the Cheltenham Festival off his container list of things to do when he goes to 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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