Cheltenham Festival 2026 full guide: Races, betting, tips and more

Get our Pub Quizzes and latest news straight to you by clicking here »

The Cheltenham Festival 2026 is set to unleash four days of pure racing drama from 10th–13th March, and you don’t need to be in the stands to feel every surge of noise from the roaring crowd. In fact, the best seat in the house might be your own sofa. With a smart TV for live action, a phone or tablet for second‑screening, buzzing group chats lighting up after every photo finish, and betting apps at the ready, home viewing has never been more immersive.

This guide will show you everything you need to know about enjoying Cheltenham, including where to watch live, how to check the latest odds and race cards, and steps on how to claim the best Cheltenham free bet offers through oddschecker. You don’t need to know the difference between a novice chaser and a bumper horse to get involved, as this guide is for casual fans and seasoned punters alike.

When Is the Cheltenham Festival 2026

The Cheltenham Festival 2026 runs from 10–13 March, a fourday celebration of jump racing that builds toward its showpiece, the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday. Across all four days, the racing follows a familiar afternoon rhythm, with the first race typically starting at 13:20 and the last going off around 17:20, giving fans a solid afternoon block of action to settle into.

What makes these days matter is the prestige. 28 races, including multiple Grade One contests, fierce Irish vs British rivalry that defines the Prestbury Cup narrative, and the famous Festival atmosphere that traditionally packs Prestbury Park with hundreds of thousands of racegoers. But you don’t need to be in the stands to feel part of it, as the Festival lives through office sweepstakes, WhatsApp group debates, and whether you’re catching the drama from the pub or from the sofa, it’s become a social event as much as a sporting one.

Cheltenham Free To Play Predictor: Receive €5 free bet each day and win share of €1,000 jackpot!

Playing JOE x BOYLE Sports' Free To Play Predictor game for the Cheltenham Festival is simple - we’ve picked out one horse running in each of the first five races every day of Cheltenham, and all you need to do is decide if it will Win, Place or finish Unplaced!

You have until 12.30pm GMT on each day of the festival to submit your predictions, with the competition then resetting daily from 1.30pm GMT for the next day’s racing.

How to Watch the Cheltenham Festival Live

In this section, we’ll show you how to watch the Cheltenham Festival live, so you can keep up with the action as it unfolds at Prestbury Park.

Free-to-Air TV and Streaming in the UK

ITV will once again screen the bulk of the Cheltenham Festival action live and free on ITV1, with daily broadcasts running from 12:45pm to 5pm, giving viewers the first six races of each day before coverage switches to subscription channels for the finale. As at Cheltenham every year, ITV does not show the final race, the seventh race, because it falls outside their transmission window, meaning fans need Racing TV for full endtoend coverage.

All ITV1 coverage is also available to stream via the ITVX app, which carries the same live races and works across smart TVs, mobiles, tablets and laptops, making it easy to follow the festival wherever you are. With demand high and race times tight, it’s sensible to sign in to ITVX before the opening race at 1:20pm to avoid any lastminute delays when the action begins.

Racing TV and Full-Cards Coverage

Racing TV is the dedicated subscription channel that broadcasts every single race from the Cheltenham Festival, including the final race each day that ITV does not show. This makes it the only way to watch the entire sevenrace daily schedule live without missing anything.

Access to Racing TV is available through multiple platforms, subscribers can watch via Sky and Virgin Media, as well as through the Racing TV website and app, which stream all races live and offer additional features such as ondemand analysis, previews and expert breakdowns.

For committed racing enthusiasts, Racing TV is ideal, it provides comprehensive coverage of every race, plus expert analysis, previews, replays, and extended commentary, making it the goto option for hardcore fans who want an uninterrupted, fullfestival experience.

How to Check Cheltenham Odds and Race Line-Ups

Next, we will highlight the best way to check Cheltenham odds as it’s important to always compare the prices between bookmakers throughout the festival:

Using Oddschecker to Compare Prices

When betting at the Cheltenham Festival, comparing odds is crucial, even small price differences can add up significantly over the course of four days, especially if you're placing multiple bets or backing several horses across the card. Oddschecker’s Cheltenham pages are designed to make this easy, presenting odds grids that display prices from a wide range of major bookmakers so you can instantly spot the best available value on any runner. These grids also highlight key betting perks such as enhanced offers, free bets, and other promotional boosts, all of which can shift the overall value of your wager.

For example, you might see a horse priced at 4/1 with one bookmaker, while another is offering 9/2 on the same runner, which may seem like a subtle difference, but one that meaningfully increases your potential return. Using Oddschecker’s comparison tools ensures you never miss these price gaps, helping you maximise value before placing your bet.

Finding Racecards and Runners

Racecards are the essential guide to every race at the Cheltenham Festival, as they list runners and riders, jockeys, trainers, recent form, and the going (track conditions), giving punters a clear picture of what to expect before placing a bet. You can access Cheltenham racecards easily through oddschecker’s Cheltenham section and its broader horse racing pages, where cards display all runners and relevant race information alongside odds comparison tools.

What to Look for on a Racecard

Horse name & number – Identify the runner and its position in the line-up.
Jockey & trainer – Key partnerships influence performance and betting value.
Recent form – Usually shown as a string of letters/numbers indicating finishing positions.
Going description – Tells you the ground conditions (e.g., good, soft), which heavily affect some horses.
Distance & race class – Useful for judging suitability based on previous performances.
Entries & odds – Some cards include live or antepost bookmaker odds to help assess value.

Together, these details help you understand the shape of a race, spot potential value, and make more informed decisions throughout the festival.

Hunting Down the Best Cheltenham Free Bet Offers

Here’s a quick guide to hunting down the best Cheltenham Free Bet offers, so you can always secure the most value for the festival:

Why Cheltenham Week Is Huge for Free Bets

Cheltenham week is one of the busiest and most competitive periods of the year for bookmaker promotions, with operators pushing out some of their strongest incentives to attract punters during the festival’s fourday betting frenzy. Bookmakers treat Cheltenham as a showcase event, leading to a surge in boosted odds, moneyback specials, enhanced place terms, and generous signup deals designed to stand out in a highly crowded market.

Using Oddschecker’s Free Bets and Offers Pages

Oddschecker makes life easier by aggregating the best Cheltenham free bet offers in one place, so you don’t have to manually check every bookmaker’s website. Their festival hub collects all the top promos, including boosts, welcome deals, and enhanced place specials, saving valuable time during the busiest betting week of the year.

What Kind of Offers Can You Expect?

Bet X, Get Y in Free Bets – e.g., place a qualifying bet and receive multiple freebet tokens.
Extra Places on Big Handicaps – ideal for eachway bettors looking to increase their chance of a return.
Price Boosts on Festival Favourites – enhanced odds on popular runners throughout the week.

Tips for Making the Most of Cheltenham Offers

Always check the terms and conditions, especially minimum odds, stake limits, expiry windows, and wagering requirements.
Spread your stakes across a few different bookmakers to take advantage of multiple promos rather than relying on a single account.

Taking a few minutes to compare offers and read the small print can significantly increase your betting value during Cheltenham week.

What races are on at the Cheltenham Festival?

Tuesday 10 March 2026 – Champion Day

13:20 – Supreme Novices’ Hurdle
14:00 – Arkle Novices’ Chase
14:40 – Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
15:20 – Mares’ Hurdle
16:00 – Champion Hurdle
16:40 – Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
17:20 – National Hunt Chase

Wednesday 11 March 2026 – Ladies Day

13:20 – Turners Novices’ Hurdle
14:00 – Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
14:40 – Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle
15:20 – Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase
16:00 – Queen Mother Champion Chase
16:40 – Grand Annual Handicap Chase
17:20 – Champion Bumper

Thursday 12 March 2026 – St Patrick’s Thursday

13:20 – Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle
14:00 – Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase
14:40 – Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle
15:20 – Stayers’ Hurdle
16:00 – Ryanair Chase
16:40 – Paddy Power Plate Handicap Chase
17:20 – Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase

Friday 13 March 2026 – Gold Cup Day

13:20 – Triumph Hurdle
14:00 – County Handicap Hurdle
14:40 – Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase
15:20 – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle
16:00 – Cheltenham Gold Cup
16:40 – Hunter Chase (Challenge Cup)
17:20 – Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle

Top Story

How the final Premier League table would look if every refereeing error was erased

Things would have looked very different. Every major refereeing decision leading up to the final few weeks of the Premier League season have been analysed, to establish how things may have played out differently, had PGMO officials always made the correct calls, in an impressive new report from the Athletic. The 2025/26 season ultimately ended […]

Sport

10h

How to Enjoy the Cheltenham Festival 2026

Home sport

When Is the Cheltenham Festival 2026

Cheltenham Free To Play Predictor: Receive €5 free bet each day and win share of €1,000 jackpot!