Cheltenham Festival 2027: Dates, Schedule and Races Day by Day

The Cheltenham Festival 2027 takes place from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2027 at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire. It is four days of jump racing, 28 races in all, seven a day, with a championship race at the heart of each afternoon and the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the Friday. The Jockey Club, which runs the course, has published the 2027 race schedule: the first race each day is at 1.20pm and the last at 5.20pm, and gates open at 10.30am.

This page sets out the Cheltenham Festival 2027 dates, every race day by day, what each championship race is, and when the runners will be known. We don’t publish tips. When the fields are declared, we add the confirmed runners to the update log at the bottom of this page. For the betting side, from each way terms to ante-post bets, see our Cheltenham betting guide.

When Is the Cheltenham Festival 2027?

The 2027 Festival runs over four days, Tuesday to Friday, in the middle of March:

Day	Name	Date	Feature race (4.00pm)
Day 1	Champion Day	Tuesday 16 March 2027	Champion Hurdle
Day 2	Ladies Day	Wednesday 17 March 2027	Queen Mother Champion Chase
Day 3	St Patrick’s Thursday	Thursday 18 March 2027	Ryanair Chase (Stayers’ Hurdle at 3.20pm)
Day 4	Gold Cup Day	Friday 19 March 2027	Cheltenham Gold Cup

The dates and times come from the Jockey Club’s official Cheltenham Festival event schedule, which we checked on 2 October 2026. The Jockey Club marks every time as subject to change, so we’ll keep this page in step with any update.

Why the Festival is always in March

The meeting is built around the end of the British and Irish jumps season’s championship races, and it usually overlaps with St Patrick’s Day, which is why so many Irish racegoers travel. In 2027, St Patrick’s Day itself (17 March) falls on the Wednesday, while the third day keeps its name, St Patrick’s Thursday. The Festival has grown from a two-day meeting to four days, with one championship race on each day, and now runs 28 races.

Key dates before the Festival

The Festival starts long before the first race. Here is the usual order of events, so you know what to expect between now and March:

1. Ante-post markets. Bookmakers price the big races months in advance. You can back a horse now, but if it doesn’t run you usually lose your stake (more on that in our betting guide).
2. Entries and handicap weights. The championship races close for entries a few weeks before the Festival, and the handicaps publish their weights. Fields are still far bigger than will run.
3. Declarations. In the days before each race, trainers declare the horses that will run and jockeys are confirmed. Only then is the field final, and only then do we publish runners.
4. Racecards and final prices. On the day, non-runners can still be withdrawn, which is when Rule 4 deductions can apply to bets struck at a fixed price.

Cheltenham Festival 2027 Schedule: Every Race Day by Day

Below is the full 2027 race schedule as the Jockey Club published it. We use the races’ standard names; race sponsors change from year to year. The championship races are highlighted. Distances are approximate, as on the official schedule.

Day 1: Champion Day, Tuesday 16 March

The Festival opens with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, the race that follows the famous Cheltenham roar as the tapes go up, and the day closes with the National Hunt Chase over almost four miles. The Champion Hurdle is the feature race at 4.00pm. Three of the seven races are handicaps, and they are where big fields and bigger prices tend to be found.

Day 2: Ladies Day, Wednesday 17 March

Wednesday’s championship race is the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the two-mile chase over 12 fences. The day also includes the Cross Country Chase, run over banks, hedges and ditches in the middle of the course, and the Champion Bumper, a Grade 1 flat race for future jumpers that closes the card.

Day 3: St Patrick’s Thursday, Thursday 18 March

Thursday is the only day with two Grade 1 feature races back to back: the Stayers’ Hurdle over three miles at 3.20pm and the Ryanair Chase over two and a half miles at 4.00pm. It also has two of the week’s three mares’ races and the Pertemps Network Final, a big handicap hurdle that horses qualify for in races through the winter.

Day 4: Gold Cup Day, Friday 19 March

Friday opens with the Triumph Hurdle for four-year-old hurdlers and builds to the Cheltenham Gold Cup at 4.00pm. The Foxhunter Chase, for amateur riders on hunter chasers, is run over the same distance as the Gold Cup straight after it.

The Five Championship Races Explained

Each day has at least one championship race: the race that decides who is the best horse in Britain and Ireland in that division. If you only follow a handful of races, these are the ones.

Champion Hurdle (Tuesday)

The championship race for two-mile hurdlers. Speed matters more than stamina here, and the race is run over about two miles and half a furlong. It is a Grade 1 race, so every horse carries the same weight, apart from the standard allowances for mares.

Queen Mother Champion Chase (Wednesday)

The two-mile championship over fences. Jumping at speed is the test: 12 fences over two miles leaves no time to recover from a mistake. Field sizes in two-mile Grade 1 chases are often small, which matters for each way betting, as our betting guide explains.

Stayers’ Hurdle and Ryanair Chase (Thursday)

The Stayers’ Hurdle is the three-mile championship for hurdlers. The Ryanair Chase, over two and a half miles, sits between the two-mile Champion Chase and the Gold Cup and gives intermediate-distance chasers their own Grade 1 target.

Cheltenham Gold Cup (Friday)

The Gold Cup is the most valuable non-handicap chase in Britain and the race the whole jumps season builds towards. It is run over about three miles and two and a half furlongs, a true test of stamina and jumping. Here are the last four winners:

Year	Winner	Starting price	Trainer	Jockey
2026	Gaelic Warrior	11/4 jt fav	Willie Mullins	Paul Townend
2025	Inothewayurthinkin	15/2	Gavin Cromwell	Mark Walsh
2024	Galopin Des Champs	10/11 fav	Willie Mullins	Paul Townend
2023	Galopin Des Champs	7/5 fav	Willie Mullins	Paul Townend

Results from the Cheltenham Gold Cup records on Wikipedia, checked on 2 October 2026. Three favourites in four years shows how often the best-backed horse in a championship race is genuinely the best; the big-field handicaps are a different story.

Novices, Handicaps and Mares’ Races: Why Every Day Mixes Them

The championship races get the attention, but they are only five of the 28 races. The rest fall into three groups, and each behaves differently for a bettor.

Novice races

Novice hurdles and chases are for horses in their first season over that type of obstacle: the Supreme, Turners and Albert Bartlett over hurdles, and the Arkle and Brown Advisory over fences. Form is limited, so prices can move sharply as the Festival approaches and trainers decide which race each horse runs in. That uncertainty is the main risk of backing a novice ante-post.

Handicaps

In a handicap, the official handicapper gives each horse a weight based on its rating, so that in theory they all have the same chance. Festival handicaps such as the Ultima, the Plate, the BetMGM Cup, the Grand Annual, the Pertemps Final and the County Hurdle often attract big fields. Under standard UK terms, a handicap with 16 or more runners pays four places at 1/4 of the odds, and many bookmakers add extra places on Festival handicaps. Our guide to what a handicap horse race is explains how the weights are set.

Mares’ races

There are three: the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle and the Mares’ Hurdle on Thursday, and the Mares’ Chase on Friday. They give mares a championship target of their own, though mares can also run in the open races, where they receive a weight allowance.

Runners and Declarations: When the Cheltenham Fields Are Known

We don’t publish runner lists until the fields are declared. Before then, any list of “runners” is a list of entries and possible targets, and many of those horses will run in a different race or not at all.

What changes between entries and the final field

Entries for the championship races are made weeks ahead, and big stables often enter one horse in two or three races to keep their options open. The field is only final at the declaration stage, in the days before each race, when trainers confirm which horses will run and who will ride. After that, the changes that matter to bettors are late withdrawals, which is where Rule 4 comes in.

What that means for your bets

If you bet before declarations, you are betting ante-post: the price is usually bigger, but you carry the risk that your horse runs elsewhere or not at all. Once the fields are known, bookmakers’ “non-runner no bet” terms and standard settlement rules take over. We explain both, with worked examples, in the Cheltenham betting guide.

Betting on the Festival: The Short Version

The Festival is the busiest betting week of the jumps year, and the bets people place are mostly the same few types. Our calculators work out what each one pays before you place it:

• Each way on a big-field handicap. Use the each way calculator with the place terms on your slip, including any extra place.
• A Lucky 15 or Yankee across the day. Four selections in different races: our Lucky 15 calculator and Yankee calculator show what every combination of winners and placed horses returns.
• Accumulators. The acca calculator handles each way legs and non-runners.
• Two or more horses in one race. The dutching calculator splits your stake so each one returns the same.
• Late withdrawals. If a horse is pulled out after you took a price, the Rule 4 calculator shows the deduction.

Bet within a budget you set before the week starts. Four days and 28 races is a lot of betting, and chasing losses on Friday is how a fun week becomes an expensive one.

Going to Cheltenham

The Festival is one of the best-attended events in British sport: the 2026 Festival drew 226,223 spectators over its four days, up from 218,093 in 2025, according to the Cheltenham Festival article on Wikipedia. The racecourse is on Evesham Road, Cheltenham, GL50 4SH. The Jockey Club advises booking tickets in advance, as some enclosures sell out, and car parking passes are needed for on-site parking. On course, around 200 bookmakers trade in the betting rings, alongside the Tote and self-service betting terminals; our betting guide covers how on-course betting works.

Update Log

We update this page as the Festival approaches. Dates are when we checked the official sources.

• 2 October 2026: dates (16 to 19 March 2027) and the provisional race schedule taken from the Jockey Club’s event schedule. No fields declared yet; runners will be added here after the declarations for each day.

The Festival is four days of betting on 28 races. Set a budget for the week before Tuesday, not each day, and stop when it's gone. Gambling responsibly.

Frequently asked questions

What date are Cheltenham races?

The Cheltenham Festival 2027 runs from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2027. Cheltenham Racecourse also holds other meetings through the jumps season, but the Festival is the four days in March, with seven races each day.

What day is the Gold Cup?

Friday, the fourth and final day. In 2027 that is Friday 19 March, with the Gold Cup scheduled for 4.00pm on the Jockey Club's provisional race schedule.

What time is the Gold Cup race at Cheltenham?

The Gold Cup is the fifth race on Friday, scheduled for 4.00pm. Every Festival day has its feature race at 4.00pm, with the first race at 1.20pm and the last at 5.20pm. Times can change, so check the racecard on the day.

Who are the runners in the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

They aren't known yet. Runners are confirmed at the declaration stage in the days before the race. Until then, lists you see are entries or ante-post favourites. We add the declared field to the update log on this page once it is published.

How many races are there at the Cheltenham Festival?

28 races, seven on each of the four days. Five are championship races: the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers' Hurdle, Ryanair Chase and Gold Cup. The rest are novice races, handicaps, mares' races, a bumper, the Cross Country and two amateur races.

What time does racing start at the Cheltenham Festival?

The first race is at 1.20pm on all four days and the last at 5.20pm, with a race every 40 minutes. Gates open at 10.30am, according to the Jockey Club's schedule.