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 protection on BBC Radio 5 live; continued on BBC Radio 5 live sports additional; live text updates on BBC Sport website
It's upon us: the Cheltenham Festival, the most crucial week of the dive racing year when most of the very best national hunt horses do battle for championship honours.
These days, nevertheless, the Festival is no longer simply a major horse racing occasion; it has protected its own progressively 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 managed what was thought about a hardly reputable 1-2-3-4-5 in the Gold Cup - the order's a good one for particular bar tests, so here goes: Bregawn, Captain John, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck and Ashley House - and, that year, the average attendance was only about 24,000 per afternoon over 3 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 offered over by radio and TV, plus the area for editorial and promos online and in papers, has grown out of all recognition.
Perhaps the biggest single change from 1983 is the amount of success for Irish stables. Then it was 5 wins from 18 races, although that figure wasn't equalled 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 obstacle, with a record 19 wins from 28 races, is thought about 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 frequently said that due to the fact that of its position nestling in the foothills of the Cotswold Hills, the spa town of has its own micro environment.
That might often hold true, however it didn't apply when the 'Beast from the East' and Storm Emma had their current encounter in Britain; as somewhere else, snow drifts gathered, some five-feet deep around the fences and obstacles, and temperatures at one point plunged to -17 C.
It's estimated 500 tonnes of snow had to be cleared from the track and public areas integrated, and the impacts of that precipitation, plus further rain, implies 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 6 of his home country's successes. Between them, the set have 15 of the 19 Irish-trained most likely favourites this time.
The Elliott group - many with jockeys using the maroon and white silks of the Gigginstown House Stud operation, owned by airline magnate Michael O'Leary - consists of Gigginstown's Samcro, who appears at arrivals with the thickest cloud of buzz.
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 attempt to bring in O'Leary, who is said to like names with powerful 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 together with 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 (day one).
Meanwhile, Mullins has something of a 'lender' of his own in Getabird, all the rage for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices Hurdle, the opening race of the entire week, the moment when that popular 'Cheltenham roar' goes up from the crowd as months of anticipation finally concerns an end.
Like a majority of the stable's biggest hopes, Getabird will be the mount of Ruby Walsh, the Festival's most successful jockey with 56 wins, and leading rider for 11 of the last 14 years; he's just back from a lack of more than three months since of a damaged ideal leg.
The Mullins challenge also includes three high-profile runners seeking to regain 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 2 current defeats and will wear cheek pieces to aid concentration; Yorkhill, last season's JLT Chase winner, has rather lost his way; while Douvan, two times a Festival winner, will be racing for the very first time given 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 difficulty
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 significant players in 3 of the week's four primary functions, and is fancied to complete what would be an unmatched treble.
Buveur D'Air, owned by JP McManus, looks outstanding as he defends 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 3rd Festival successes together in the Queen Mother Champion Chase; while Might Bite and de Boinville effort to join an elite band who have actually won jumping's King George VI Chase and Timico-sponsored Gold Cup in the same season.
To mix metaphors, Might Bite, owned by the Knot Again Partnership headed by Kent County Cricket Club chairman Simon Philip, is a great all-rounder, although is susceptible to near run-outs.
The nine-year-old has twice nearly got defeat from the jaws of triumph when drifting off a straight line late on at Cheltenham, significantly in the RSA Chase of 2017; were these shenanigans guaranteed not to be duplicated, his big-race odds would be considerably much shorter as he handles Native River, Our Duke and co. - although not last year'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 - quite extremely - had horses finish runner-up 6 times including Djakadam twice.
Day 3: move over St Patrick, the individuals's horses are in town
They call it St Patrick's Thursday, but, not least since it's on 15 March, day 3 might almost 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 maybe best-known for falling at the third-last fence in the last 2 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, of course, however also for his capability to recover in the face of adversity, like the falls.
Success for the veteran, trained by Colin Tizzard for octogenarian owner Jean Bishop, and the mount of jockey Paddy Brennan, versus protecting champ Un Des Sceaux and the rest would, as they say, raise the roofing.
Unlike Cue Card, who missed a couple of years, the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained The New One, who lines up with the trainer's jockey child Sam in the Sunbets Stayers Hurdle, has not missed out on a Celebration given that taking in his very first in 2012; his CV includes a beginners' difficulty success and type figures of 3-5-4-5 in successive Champion Hurdles.
Any other business
Britain's youngest trainer Amy Murphy, 26, doesn't have ammo to equate to 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 renew her prolific partnership with Black Corton in the RSA Chase (day 2).
Some bookmakers' quotes of how much will be bet during the Festival seem a bit wild, and ₤ 350m is probably a reasonable call: the bookmakers seem 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, fitness instructor 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 current renewal of jump racing's northern circuit.
And finally...109-year-old racing fan Ralph Hoare lastly gets the opportunity 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 extra and the BBC Sport site all week.
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