The festival in figures
More than £650,000 has been raised at the Festival for Cancer Research UK over the past three years
Around the racetrack, staff numbers balloon from 60 permanent members to over 5,000 during the festival each year
More than £1million changes hands betting on each race in the betting ring (which, if recent news reports are to be believed, will soon be around e1million)
Over £2million is spent each year on temporary buildings alone
More than 200,000 people attend the four days of the festival, with 65,000 visitors on Gold Cup day alone. Including the rest of the year, a total of 700,000 visitors descend on Cheltenham for racing
Festival-goers will get through about 18,000 bottles of champagne and 214,000 pints of Guinness during the four-day festival. Sláinte!
£3.6million in prize money is available during the four-day festival at Cheltenham, making it the most valuable fixture in jump racing
Roughly 10,000 beds each night are filled during festival week, ranging from four-star accommodation to local B&Bs. Gloucestershire Tourism estimate the value of the festival to the wider local economy at around £50million.
Ruby Walsh rides Big Bucks to victoryDid you know?
When Big Buck’s — the greatest staying hurdler in history — won his thrilling fourth successive victory in the Stayers’ Championship last year, the Paul Nicholls-trained and Ruby Walsh-ridden horse eclipsed three-time winner Inglis Drever, who, in contrast to Walsh, was partnered by different jockeys for each of his victories — Graham Lee (2005), Paddy Brennan (2007) and Denis O’Regan (2008)
No horse has ever won both the Stan James Champion Hurdle and the Ladbrokes World Hurdle
Cheltenham hosts the largest tented village of any kind at a sporting event in the world
How to get there
Rail: Cheltenham Spa, at two-and-a-half miles from the racetrack, is the closest train station. The racecourse is located to the north of Cheltenham at Prestbury Park on Evesham Road. Trains from London Paddington take about 2 hours 20 minutes. Punters from Manchester, Birmingham New Street and Liverpool all have train links with journey times of approximately 2 hours 30 minutes
Road: Extensive signposting greets visitors by road. The course can be reached via the A435 and A4019, with the nearest motorways the M5, and towards the east the M40. Be aware — there is no car parking at Cheltenham on race days
Coach: National Express Coaches have launched a new ‘to the door’ service to the course. Coaches to Cheltenham will depart from Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Nottingham, Newbury, Portsmouth, Southampton, Swindon, Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton
Bus: A shuttle bus will take punters to and from Cheltenham Spa station direct to the course before and after racing for the festival, which is available at a cost
Air: The closest airport to Cheltenham is Birmingham International, approximately an hour’s drive away. Direct domestic flights depart to Birmingham from Manchester, Newcastle and London Heathrow, with Dublin, Edinburgh and Belfast other viable departure points
If that all sounds like too much hassle, you can always book your own helicopter which can be landed at the course with prior permission.
Bets and bobs
There will be hundreds of online bookmakers trying to grab your attention with special offers and deals (the best of which is Boylesports with their pledge to refund bets on any horse that loses by half-a-length or less).
Alternatively, you could become acquainted with a friendly bloke called Trevor in a cheap suit, with a big red face screetching barely coherent, but complex and intricate, cockney at you. Most of these on-course characters will demand a minimum bet of £5. You can also place a bet on the Tote, who will have offices dotted all around the course, for just £2 upwards. Betting vouchers can be purchased with credit and debit cards at numerous Tote information points.
There is no set dress code for the festival, although many ladies wear hats while men tend to wear a suit in the Club Enclosure and in the restaurants and hospitality facilities.
Well there you have it — you know how to get there, the key races to watch, the best craic between races, where to bet, where to drink (didn’t I mention? Look for the Guinness Grandstand, the clue is in the name), almost everything short of picking a winner (oh go on then, Zarkander and Far West are my shots for the week). I almost forgot to mention, gates open at 10.30am, the first race hooves off at 1.30pm and the seventh and last race is at 5.15pm. See you there fellow festival novices — all bug-eyed, bright and early — along with you Cheltenham vets too.
