Cheltenham Festival 2025 – Everything you need to know
The four-day festival kicks off today.
Four days of world class horse racing kicks off today at Cheltenham racecourse.
With hundreds of thousands of racegoers set to visit the course over the week here is everything you need to know from travel to the running of the event.
How do I get there?
Great Western Railway have over 40 trains running to and from Cheltenham over the next 4 days with extra services running throughout the day to help cope with demand.
Extra carriages are being added to some trains meaning there will be over16,000 extra seats available to and from the festival every day.
Extra services will be running from surrounding areas such as Bristol and Worcester as well as from London Paddington.
James Davies, a spokesperson for Great Western Railway, told Greatest Hits Radio “A significant number of people head back to the station immediately after the racing finishes.
“Clearly that’s when there will be a build up of people at the station and a queuing system to enable people to board trains.”
There will also be a Stagecoach shuttle bus service running from Cheltenham Spa station to the racecourse and back throughout the day.
Visit Cheltenham have created a handy walking guide if you would prefer to take in the sites on your way to the festival.
The guide features three routes with their expected timings.
Honeybourne Line 2.1 miles, 48 minute walk.
Honeybourne Line & Town Centre 2.4 miles, 54 minute walk.
Montpellier & Town Centre 2.6 miles, 1 hour.
You can find the guide here.
The New CEO
A new CEO is running the festival this year.
Guy Lavender took up the position of CEO at Cheltenham Racecourse in January and has a history of running sporting events such a cricket.
Lavender joined from Marylebone Cricket Club where he has been Chief Executive and Secretary since 2017.
Nevin Truesdale, Group Chief Executive at The Jockey Club said “Guy’s deep and wide-ranging experience in sports events and administration will prove invaluable in his new role and should also ensure the continued advancement of the Home of Jump Racing and the Cheltenham Festival.”
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio on how horse racing compares with cricket he told us
“it’s very different, different size, different scale, but I’m really looking forward to it.
I’ve been here many times as a customer as a racegoer, so I know what that experience is like so its going to be very different to be running things.”
What Is on each day?
DAY 1: CHAMPION DAY - TUESDAY 11 MARCH
Champion day is set to open with the Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novices’ Hurdle which was renamed in honour of O’Sullivan who tragically passed away recently after a fall at Thurles.
The feature race of the day is the Unibet Champion Hurdle, a 2 mile Grade 1 race.
DAY 2: STYLE WEDNESDAY - WEDNESDAY 12 MARCH
The headline race of the day is the Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase which will see horses including Nicky Hendersons ‘Jonbon’ jump over 12 fences over the course of 2 miles.
DAY 3: ST PATRICK'S THURSDAY - THURSDAY 13 MARCH
There will be two headlines races this day, the Ryanair Steeple Chase at 15:20 & Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle at 16:00.
DAY 4: GOLD CUP DAY - FRIDAY 14 MARCH
The event concludes with feature race the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
This is set to big the biggest race of the week with almost all tickets for Gold Cup day sold out.
Galopin Des Champs who has won the Gold Cup the past two years in a row is set to run again this year – could we see a third year in a row for Willie Mullins' horse?