Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, hosts National Hunt horse racing. Racing at Cheltenham took place in 1815, but comprised only minor flat races on Nottingham Hill. The first racing on Cleeve Hill was on Tuesday 25 August 1818 when the opening race was won by Miss Tidmarsh, owned by Mr E Jones. It was a year later when the results were printed in the Racing Calendar when a programme of flat racing was watched by the Duke of Gloucester who donated 100 Guineas to the prize fund. By 1831 races were being staged at Prestbury, although not on the present day course. In 1834 the Grand Annual Steeplechase was run for the first time. In 1839 Lottery won the Grand Annual having previously won the first Aintree Grand National. In 1840 the meeting transferred to Andoversford for a brief period, only to return to Prestbury in 1847. 1902 was a notable year in that racing moved to the present course at Prestbury Park. The new stands were completed in 1914 and the present day Festival races, as we know them, began to take shape. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, over 3 ¼ miles, was run for the first time in 1924, with the Champion Hurdle following in 1927.
The course's most prestigious meeting is the Cheltenham Festival, held in March, which features several Grade I races including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase and the Stayers' Hurdle.
The racecourse has a scenic location in a natural amphitheatre, just below the escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at Cleeve Hill, with a capacity of 67,500 spectators. Cheltenham Racecourse railway station no longer connects to the national rail network, but is the southern terminus of the preserved Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
The main racecourse has two separate courses alongside each other, the Old Course and the New Course. The New Course has a tricky downhill fence and a longer run-in for steeplechases than the Old Course. Hurdle races over two miles on the New Course also have a slight peculiarity in that most of the hurdles are jumped early on in the race with only two hurdles being jumped in the last seven furlongs. The Old Course is the racecourse used for The Showcase, The November Meeting and the first two days of the Cheltenham Festival. There is also a cross-country course which is laid out inside the main racecourse and is used for cross-country steeplechases.
The racecourse is the home of The Centaur, one of the largest auditoria in the South West of England. This multiple-use complex seats over 2,000 people for conferences and around 4,000 standing for concerts. It is also home to the Steeplechasing Hall of Fame. From 1999 to 2013, the racecourse was the venue for the annual Greenbelt festival and remains the venue for the Wychwood Music Festival. The University of Gloucestershire holds its graduation ceremony and summer ball at the racecourse. Alongside its other events, the racecourse hosts a weekly market and car boot sale, which resumed in March 2026 after a 20-year hiatus.
In 2001 during the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, the 2001 Cheltenham Festival was cancelled for the first time since 1943 due to World War II.
From 2008, the racecourse and The Jockey Club were in talks with Cheltenham Town F.C. about a possible move to the racecourse. This would have meant the building of a new stadium with a double-sided stand, one side in the stadium and the other for watching the races. In 2011, Cheltenham Town F.C. decided against the move for financial reasons. The racecourse featured in the 2010 novel Jump! by Jilly Cooper.
In 2015, Cheltenham Racecourse opened the £45m 6,500-capacity Princess Royal Stand, which completed the redevelopment of the course.
Notable races Month Meeting DOW Race name Type Grade Distance Course Age/SexNew Year1st Fairlawne Handicap ChaseChase Premier HandicapNew5yo +New Year1st Dipper Novices' ChaseChase Grade 2New5yo +New Year1st Relkeel HurdleHurdle Grade 2New4yo +TrialsSaturday Finesse Juvenile Novices' HurdleHurdle Grade 2New4yo onlyTrialsSaturday Paddy Power Cheltenham Countdown Podcast Handicap ChaseChase Premier HcapNew5yo +TrialsSaturday Cotswold ChaseChase Grade 2New5yo +TrialsSaturday Cleeve HurdleHurdle Grade 2New5yo +TrialsSaturday Classic Novices' HurdleHurdle Grade 2New4yo +TrialsSaturday International HurdleHurdle Grade 2New4yo +FestivalTuesday Arkle Challenge TrophyChase Grade 1Old5yo +FestivalTuesday Ultima Business Solutions Hcap ChaseChase Premier HandicapOld5yo +FestivalTuesday National Hunt Chase Challenge CupChase Grade 2Old5yo +FestivalTuesday Supreme Novices' HurdleHurdle Grade 1Old4yo +FestivalTuesday Close Brothers Mares' HurdleHurdle Grade 1Old4yo + mFestivalTuesday Champion HurdleHurdle Grade 1Old4yo +FestivalWednesday Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap ChaseChase HandicapCross5yo +FestivalWednesday Baring Bingham Novices' HurdleHurdle Grade 1Old4yo +FestivalWednesday Coral CupHurdle Premier HandicapOld4yo +FestivalWednesday Brown Advisory Novices' ChaseChase Grade 1Old5yo +FestivalWednesday Champion BumperN H Flat Grade 1Old4yo-6yoFestivalWednesday Queen Mother Champion ChaseChase Grade 1Old5yo +FestivalWednesday Boodles Juvenile Handicap HurdleHurdle Premier HandicapOld4yo onlyFestivalThursday Pertemps FinalHurdle Premier HandicapNew5yo +FestivalThursday Stayers' HurdleHurdle Grade 1New4yo +FestivalThursday Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge CupChase HandicapNew5yo +FestivalThursday Turners Novices' ChaseChase Grade 1New5yo +FestivalThursday Ryanair ChaseChase Grade 1New5yo +FestivalThursday Magners Plate Handicap ChaseChase Premier HandicapNew5yo +FestivalFriday St James's Place Festival Hunter ChaseChase ConditionsNew5yo +FestivalFriday Triumph HurdleHurdle Grade 1New4yo onlyFestivalFriday County Handicap HurdleHurdle Premier HandicapNew5yo +FestivalFriday Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap HurdleHurdle HandicapNew4yo +FestivalFriday Albert Bartlett Novices' HurdleHurdle Grade 1New4yo +FestivalFriday Cheltenham Gold CupChase Grade 1New5yo +FestivalFriday Johnny Henderson Grand Annual ChaseChase Premier HandicapNew5yo +AprilWednesday Silver Trophy Handicap ChaseChase Grade 2New5yo +ShowcaseFriday Sharp Novices' HurdleHurdle Grade 2Old4yo +NovemberFriday Hyde Novices' HurdleHurdle Grade 2Old4yo +NovemberSaturday Paddy Power Gold CupChase Premier HandicapOld4yo +NovemberSunday Oddschecker Handicap ChaseChase Premier HandicapOld4yo +NovemberSaturday Prestbury Juvenile HurdleHurdle Grade 2Old3yo onlyNovemberSaturday Mares' Open NH Flat RaceFlat ListedOld4-6yo mNovemberSunday November Novices' ChaseChase Grade 2Old4yo +NovemberSunday Greatwood HurdleHurdle Premier HandicapOld4yo +ChristmasFriday Turners Handicap ChaseChase Premier HandicapNew4yo +ChristmasSaturday Bristol Novices' HurdleHurdle Grade 2New4yo +ChristmasSaturday December Gold CupChase Premier HandicapNew4yo + Source
Horse welfare concerns Cheltenham Racecourse is known to be one of the most dangerous in the United Kingdom. Since 2007, Animal Aid has recorded the 133 known deaths on the course. Causes of death include broken bones, spinal injuries, and horse being killed following sustaining injuries from falls.
References
BBC (2011). BBC (2005). New developments at Cheltenham Racecourse . Retrieved November 14, 2005.
External links Cheltenham Racecourse (Official website) Follow the National Hunt Festival '08 with BBC Gloucestershire Go behind the scenes with BBC Gloucestershire's Virtual Cheltenham Panoramic photos of Cheltenham Racecourse