★ Cheltenham Festival

01Lý do quan trọng

This is the championship meeting of jump racing, the branch of the sport with the deepest hold on Britain and Ireland. In our reading its importance is social as much as sporting: no other British meeting has a genuinely bi-national crowd.

02Tuần lễ xung quanh sự kiện

Cheltenham, a Regency spa town of 116,000, absorbs a crowd larger than itself: hotels across Gloucestershire and into the Cotswolds are taken at multi-night minimums, and shuttle buses link town and course all day.

03Thời điểm đến

Tuesday and Friday matter most and are hardest to get into; arrive Monday evening and leave Saturday morning.

04Nơi lưu trú

Cheltenham town center is the obvious choice, a forty-minute walk or short shuttle from the course; the Cotswold villages give you a better week if you have a car.

05Tiếp cận và tiếp đón

The Jockey Club sells enclosure admission across the four days — Best Mate, Tattersalls and Club — plus restaurants, boxes and packages, with annual badge schemes carrying priority. Demand exceeds supply for Tuesday and Friday.

06Nơi diễn ra các hoạt động giao lưu

The Guinness Village on course is the meeting's genuine center; beyond it, the Parade Ring lawn and the terraces above the finish. In town, the Montpellier bars and the Promenade hotels.

07Hướng dẫn di chuyển

08Thông tin thực tiễn

09Lịch sử

The meeting traces to 1860 and the National Hunt Chase, which settled at Prestbury Park from 1911. The championship races followed: the Stayers' Hurdle in 1912, the Gold Cup in 1924, the Champion Hurdle in 1927, the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 1959. It grew to four days in 2005.

10Ai có mặt ở đây

Owners, trainers and stable staff from the British and Irish jumping yards; a very large Irish travelling public; the betting industry and professional punters; and a devoted racing public.