The Cheltenham Festival is one of the biggest horse racing meetings in the world. It’s the pinnacle of the UK National Hunt season, featuring four stunning days of top-class racing.
The festival is one of the most significant meetings in horse racing due to the high volume of top-tier feature races. It is packed with fourteen Grade 1 races and is a highlight of horse racing betting.
The Cheltenham Festival traditionally falls on the week of St Patrick’s Day celebrations, so it attracts a huge Irish race-going contingent, as well as leading trainers from across the Irish Sea.
Among all the races, it’s the championship fixtures that are the highest profile in horse racing betting. They are the much anticipated Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and the blue riband event, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup has been around since 1924 and the Grade 1 fixture captures the imagination of punters. Cheltenham Gold Cup betting is the highlight of the Festival.
Some of the greatest chasers in the world have won the race, including Best Mate, Arkle, Kauto Star and Denman. In 2022 jockey Rachael Blackmore created history, by becoming the first female jockey to win, guiding 3/1F A Plus Tard home first.
The Gold Cup is a 3 m 2f contest for chasers at least five years old. It is also the richest non-handicap race in UK racing.
The 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup will feature last year’s winner Galopin Des Champs, along with big challengers Fastorslow, Shishkin and Gerri Colombe.
With information on horse racing bonuses, big race previews and insight from horse racing experts, there’s no better way to keep up-to-date with Cheltenham Festival market moves and betting trends.
So, what are you waiting for? Join 888sport today and get stuck into the latest Cheltenham Festival betting odds. With markets on EVERY meeting across the UK & Ireland, 888sport is the best option for horse racing fans.
The Champion Hurdle is another of the top Grade 1 fixtures, featuring 8 hurdles over a distance of 2 miles and 1/2 furlongs. The inaugural edition of the Champion Hurdle was in 1927.
Nicky Henderson’s brilliant charge Constitution Hill is a heavy ante-post favourite in Cheltenham betting 2024 and is back for a title defence. State Man, Bob Olinger and Impair Et Passe are among the leading challengers in ante-post horse racing odds.
The Queen Mother Championship Chase is one of the biggest 2-mile contests in UK racing. It’s a major highlight of the Cheltenham Festival and is open to runners 5 years old and up. The race was established in 1959 and in 1980 it received its current title in honour of the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday.
The much-anticipated rematch between Willie Mullins’ El Fabiolo and Nicky Henderson’s Jonbon will be the highlight of the Champion Chase betting. The duo are expected to dominate proceedings in the horse racing odds.
The Stayers’ Hurdle is the oldest race at the Cheltenham Festival and first run in 1912. This is a testing three-mile contest for four-year-olds and up. The race has undergone plenty of changes during its time, but it’s now one of the meeting’s top Grade 1 fixtures.
Of the championship races, the Stayers’ Hurdle is the most wide-open in Cheltenham odds. Teahupoo, Theleme, Irish Point and Crambo are expected to lead the charge in Cheltenham odds.
The latest renewal of the Cheltenham Festival falls once again on its annual spot in the calendar, kicking off on the second Tuesday of February. The dates for the 2024 Cheltenham Festival are March 12th - 15th.
| Supreme Novices’ Hurdle | Hurdles | Grade 1 |
| Arkle Challenge Trophy | Fences | Grade 1 |
| Ultima Handicap | Fences | Handicap |
| Champion Hurdle | Hurdles | Grade 1 |
| Mares’ Hurdle | Hurdles | Grade 1 |
| Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle | Hurdles | Handicap |
| National Hunt Challenge Cup | Fences | Grade 2 |
| Baring Bingham Novices Hurdle | Hurdles | Grade 1 |
| Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase | Fences | Grade 1 |
| Coral Cup | Hurdles | Handicap |
| Queen Mother Champion Chase | Fences | Grade 1 |
| Cross Country Chase | Hurdles | Ungraded |
| Grand Annual | Fences | Handicap |
| Champion Bumper | Flat | Grade 1 |
| Turners Novices’ Chase | Fences | Grade 1 |
| Pertemps Final | Hurdles | Handicap |
| Ryanair Chase | Fences | Grade 1 |
| Stayers’ Hurdle | Hurdles | Grade 1 |
| TrustATrader Plate | Fences | Handicap |
| Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle | Hurdles | Grade 2 |
| Kim Muir Challenge Cup | Fences | Ungraded |
| Triumph Hurdle | Hurdles | Grade 1 |
| County Handicap Hurdle | Hurdles | Handicap |
| Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle | Hurdles | Grade 1 |
| Cheltenham Gold Cup | Fences | Grade 1 |
| St James’s Place Steeple Chase | Fences | Ungraded |
| Mares’ Chase | Fences | Grade 2 |
| Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle | Hurdles | Ungraded |
888Sport Racing covers all of your Cheltenham Festival betting. Find the latest horse racing odds for all 28 races at the meeting. Selections can be pulled from the straight race winner markets, including ante-post and early prices, plus on the day of the race right up until the off.
Picking the race winner is the most popular type of wager played for Cheltenham betting. An each-way selection provides coverage of a selection finishing in 5th place in the race, depending on the fixture.
Other popular markets for Cheltenham odds are Forecast and Tricast bets, which are selections on the exact finishing order of the top two or three in a race. Race day accumulators are another popular wager for Cheltenham betting.
Look for alternative markets too, like The Prestbury Cup, which celebrates the annual duel between British and Irish trainers. Other featured markets are Top Jockey, Top Trainer and even Over/Under Totals on how many winners selected jockeys and trainers will land.
How to bet on the Cheltenham Festival:
All races from the 2024 Cheltenham Festival are covered by the 888Sport Non-Runner Money Back offer. Any bet placed on a Cheltenham race up to 11:50 on 10th March 2024 will be covered by Non-Runner Money Back. That means if a selection does not run, the stake is refunded.
Follow all the latest information, live betting markets and insights for all the big races. Look at the form on the 888Sport Cheltenham Festival racecards with detailed horse racing tips from Timeform included. The 888 blog has further previews of the big meeting to enjoy, to help gauge the latest Cheltenham odds and markets.
Our Bet Finder is a great way to filter the runners at the Cheltenham Festival. Enter search terms like odds range, course winner and winning trainer to narrow down the horses that fit your strategy.
Back a horse in a race that has the 888Sport Each Way Promo and gets enhanced place terms on the result, or an extra place.
The 888Sport Double Result feature for all UK & Irish racing pays first past the post. It will also pay if a back selection is promoted to a place finish or win.
Live racing streaming is available at 888Sport with access gained by a qualifying bet on the race.
The Cheltenham Festival is such a special event and one of the greatest sporting occasions around. It’s four of the most thrilling, high-quality days of racing on the calendar. Follow all the latest live betting odds and action at 888Sport both during the big build-up and the Festival itself.
The history of the Cheltenham Festival goes back to the mid-1800s. It was contested at different venues in the UK before it returned to Cheltenham in 1911 where the meeting has stayed ever since
Even though the Cheltenham Festival is steeped in tremendous history, it continues to evolve. A big change to the Festival happened in 2005 as an extra day was added, taking the meeting to its current four-day status.
The reshuffling of things made it so that there was a championship race on each of the days, and further races were added. There are now a total of 28 races at the Cheltenham Festival, with half of them Grade 1. The Festival is hosted annually in March, beginning on the second Tuesday of the month.
| Cheltenham Festival First Event | 1834 |
| Maximum Capacity of Cheltenham Racecourse | 68,000 |
| Local Economy Yearly Worth | £100,000,000 |
| Amount of Races in Course of 4 Days | 28 |
| Amount of Grade 1s Races | 14 |
| Maximum Number of Gold Cup Horses | 24 |
| Cheltenham Racecourse Owner | Jockey Club Racecourses |