Festivals of Racing

All you need to know about the world's top horse racing festivals

A Celebration of Racing Festivals

Festivals of Racing is your No.1 information resource for the world’s major horse racing festivals, such as Royal Ascot, The Derby, Cheltenham Festival, Grand National & The Arc.

Festivals of Racing is packed with all you need to know about the top festivals on the horse racing calendar, with information on the races, horses, jockeys, owners, trainers, racecourses, hospitality, dress code, travel and more.

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Nothing beats a day at the races! But if you can’t be there in person, Festivals of Racing is the next best thing to experiencing the excitement and atmosphere at a major racing festival. Register for our FREE Newsletter covering all the important festivals on the racing calendar, such as Royal Ascot, the Derby, Cheltenham, Grand National, Punchestown, Galway Festival and more.

Cheltenham Festival

With a capacity for 67,500 spectators each day and some 230,000 spectators over the 4 days of the Cheltenham Festival, estimated gate receipts total around £7 million. Gold Cup Day is especially popular with the Irish who cross the water to attend Cheltenham Festival in their thousands. The famous rivalry between British and Irish horses contributes to the atmosphere.

The Cheltenham Festival is the pinnacle meeting on the National Hunt calendar and vitally important to UK racing. £600 million will be wagered on racing during the Cheltenham Festival. Without Cheltenham, Jump Racing simply wouldn’t be the same. Betting on all 27 Cheltenham Festival races is followed by thousands of racing enthusiasts. The volume of bets wagered during the Festival is staggering, with millions of pounds changing hands between bookmakers and punters on every race.

Experience for yourself the roar of the crowd on Champion Day with the Champion Hurdle, the glamour of Ladies’ Day and the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the ‘craic’ of St Patrick’s Thursday and the incredible finale of the big feature race on Day 4 of the Cheltenham Festival; the Cheltenham Gold Cup. For The Open Saturday and over the four days of The Festival, Cheltenham operates three separate enclosures – Club, Tattersalls and Best Mate. Detailed below are the facilities that are available in the three different enclosures.

Upcoming UK & Irish Racing Festivals

Aintree Grand National

The marathon Aintree Grand National Festival headlines 3 days of jump racing at the Aintree Grand National Festival near Liverpool in April every year, culminating with a 40-runner steeplechase that is by far the single biggest race on the Jump Racing calendar and the UK’s biggest betting event. A British sporting institution, the Aintree Grand National attracts over 150,000 race-goers for this race alone. Over 11 million viewers tune in to watch the race on TV.

AINTREE GRAND NATIONAL