The Cheltenham Festival 2018 is just two weeks away. Excitement for this year’s event is growing and the festival should see records set in attendance. The Cheltenham Festival will be held over four days from Tuesday 13 March to Friday 16 March. In all, 28 horse races will be held at this year’s edition of the festival. The most prestigious of the races will be the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The race is the most valuable of the entire festival and the purse for the event will exceed the £575,000 given out a year ago.
The four-day event is broken down into specific days of racing.
- Champion Day – Tuesday 13th March
- Ladies Day – Wednesday 14th March
- St Patrick’s Thursday – Thursday 15th March
- Gold Cup Day – Friday 16th March
Cheltenham Festival weather
There are less than 13 days until the first race of the Cheltenham Festival. The horses, riders and trainers are working through the adverse weather conditions currently besieging the United Kingdom. Cold, freezing temperatures and snow have fallen on much of the UK. The weather isn’t expected to warm up until days before the festival begins.
The weather hasn’t just affected the build-up to Cheltenham and natural surface race courses, but all-weather tracks around England are cancelling events. The lack of training or racing could affect horses heading to Cheltenham for the 13th of March.
Despite the cold and damp weather, Cheltenham Festival organizers have stated the event is not in jeopardy of being cancelled. The race course is expected to be in good to soft condition.
Cheltenham Festival races
The festival will see 28 races spread out over the four-day event. Seven races will take place each day. The Cheltenham Gold Cup will pay out the largest purse once again this year. The race will see £625,000 dished out. It won’t the only race to see a large purse doled out to participants. The Stan James Champion Hurdle (£400,000), Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (£400,000), Sun Bets Stayers’ Hurdle (£325,000) and the Ryanair Chase (£350,000) will all pay large six-figure purses to during the week.
Two of the biggest races that will take place at Cheltenham are the Gold Cup and the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Both will dish out over £1 million in purse money, and both will be watched by punters and viewers with excitement. Bettors looking for a great offer and fantastic odds should remember promo code at hardrock.
Last year’s Gold Cup winner, Sizing John, who won a treble of Gold Cups at Leopardstown, Cheltenham and Punchestown in 2017, will be back for the race. Sizing John isn’t in the best form coming into this year’s Gold Cup. The horse has struggled in the lead up races to Cheltenham, but his trainers believe Sizing John is now ready to repeat in the Gold Cup.
Altior goes into the Queen Mother Champion Chase as the race favourite. The horse has been brilliant in training runs and left his trainer Nicky Henderson feeling confident. However, Altior will face stiff competition from Douvan in the race. Douvan is doing everything right in preparation for the race according to his trainer. Currently listed at 4/1 to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase, Douvan could upset Altior in one of the festival’s biggest races.
