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 important week of the jump racing year when most of the very best national hunt horses do fight for championship honours.
These days, however, the Festival is no longer just a significant horse racing occasion; it has secured its own significantly significant position in the British sporting calendar as a whole.
One illustration: I am commemorating my 35th anniversary of working there. Back in 1983 fitness instructor Michael Dickinson pulled off what was thought about a hardly credible 1-2-3-4-5 in the Gold Cup - the order's a good one for specific pub quizzes, so here goes: Bregawn, Captain John, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck and Ashley House - and, that year, the average presence was just 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 amount of airtime given over by radio and TV, plus the space for editorial and promotions online and in newspapers, has actually outgrown all recognition.
Perhaps the most significant single modification 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 sustained 'nil points'. Today, hopes of an improvement on 2017's success in the BetBright Anglo-Irish obstacle, with a record 19 wins from 28 races, is considered practical.
Podcast: 5 live Cheltenham sneak peek
Cheltenham race schedule & BBC protection
Here's my guide to the week ahead ...
First things first: the weather condition
It is often stated that due to the fact that of its position nestling in the foothills of the Cotswold Hills, the spa town of Cheltenham has its own micro climate.
That might in some cases be the case, but it didn't use when the 'Beast from the East' and Storm Emma had their recent encounter in Britain; as elsewhere, snow drifts gathered, some five-feet deep around the fences and obstacles, and temperature levels at one point plunged to -17 C.
It's approximated 500 tonnes of snow had to be cleared from the track and public locations 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 stronger 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 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 tycoon Michael O'Leary - consists of 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 television series Sons of Anarchy - in an effort to bring in O'Leary, who is stated to like names with powerful undertones.
Unbeaten in 7 races, consisting of a point-to-point, Samcro is an Irish 'lender' in day 2's Ballymore Novices Hurdle as he heads the list of Elliott runners along with 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 (day one).
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 concerns an end.
Like a bulk of the stable's greatest 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 just back from a lack of more than 3 months since of a damaged ideal leg.
The Mullins challenge also consists of three high-profile runners looking 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 suffered two recent beats and will use cheek pieces to aid concentration; Yorkhill, last season's JLT Chase winner, has actually rather lost his way; while Douvan, twice a Festival winner, will be racing for the very first time considering that tumbling in the 2017 Champion Chase, when clashing with Altior in the race this time or lining up in the Ryanair Chase.
Altior simply one star in Henderson difficulty
Just as Messrs Elliott and Mullins dominate the Irish attack, the stable of Nicky Henderson, based at Lambourn in Berkshire, has a majority of the foot soldiers manning the home defences.
Henderson, who's won more Festival races than any other trainer - 58 - has the major players in three of the week's four principal functions, and is fancied to finish what would be an extraordinary treble.
Buveur D'Air, owned by JP McManus, looks impressive as he protects 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 attempt to join an elite band who have actually won leaping's King George VI Chase and Timico-sponsored Gold Cup in the very 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 two times almost grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory when drifting off a straight line late on at Cheltenham, significantly in the RSA Chase of 2017; were these antics ensured not to be repeated, his big-race odds would be significantly shorter as he handles Native River, Our Duke and co. - although not in 2015's winner Sizing John, who is injured.
Talking of the Gold Cup, here's a stat for you: Willie Mullins, who is due to run last year's fourth Djakadam, Total Recall and the well-touted Killultagh Vic, has actually never won the race, and has - quite extraordinarily - had horses complete runner-up 6 times including Djakadam two times.
Day 3: move over St Patrick, individuals's horses are in town
They call it St Patrick's Thursday, but, not least due to the fact that it's on 15 March, day three might nearly be re-named 'old heroes' Thursday this year as Cue Card and The New One strut their stuff 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 2 Gold Cups - his appearance in the Ryanair Chase is most likely to be his swansong at the fixture.
The jump racing public has actually taken the 12-year-old to their hearts for his success in landing a total of 16 races, obviously, but likewise for his capability to get better in the face of hardship, 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 state, raise the roofing system.
Unlike Cue Card, who missed a number of years, the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained The New One, who lines up with the fitness instructor's jockey boy Sam in the Sunbets Stayers Hurdle, has actually not missed a Festival since taking in his very first in 2012; his CV consists of an amateurs' hurdle success and kind figures of 3-5-4-5 in succeeding Champion Hurdles.
Any other company
Britain's youngest fitness instructor Amy Murphy, 26, doesn't have ammunition to equal a few of her rivals, 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 due to renew her prolific partnership with Black Corton in the RSA Chase (day 2).
Some bookies' price quotes of how much will be bet throughout the Festival seem a bit wild, and ₤ 350m is probably a sensible call: the bookies appear to many fear Footpad, well-backed for the Racing Post Arkle Trophy (day one).
Champion racehorse-turned-stallion Frankel has his very 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, look for to continue the current renewal of jump racing's northern circuit.
And finally...109-year-old racing fan Ralph Hoare lastly gets the possibility to tick the Cheltenham Festival off his container list of things to do when he attends Gold Cup day.
Coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio live sports additional and the BBC Sport website all week.
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