What are the Biggest Races at the Cheltenham Festival?

If you’ve heard about the fast-approaching 2024 Cheltenham Festival and want to know more about the biggest races that take place over the four-day event, you’ve come to the right place. 

There are 28 races in total, seven per day, and the pinnacle of the Cheltenham Festival is the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Let’s dive in to discover the names of some of the other big races. 

Where and when is the Cheltenham Festival?

The 2024 Cheltenham Festival is one of the UK’s biggest horse racing-based meetings on the National Hunt racing calendar. It usually coincides with St. Patrick’s Day and will run this year from Tuesday 12 until Friday 15 March. 

It takes place each year at the Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, which is in Gloucestershire, England, and it will kick off with the Supreme Novices Hurdle at 13:30 on Tuesday. 

What are the Cheltenham Festival’s biggest races?

The Cheltenham Festival features several Grade I races and the main event is the Gold Cup. 

If you miss the first day of racing and want Cheltenham day 2 tips (for Wednesday, 13 March), the tip for this day would be for El Fabiolo to win the Queen Mother’s Champion Chase. 

Here are the dates and times for the four biggest races, along with the favourite for each race and the latest odds:

• Name: Cheltenham Gold Cup. Date: 15 March. Time: 15:30. Odds-on favourite to win the race outright: Galopin des Champs. Average odds: 6/5
• Name: Stayers’ Hurdle. Date: 14 March. Time: 15:30. Odds-on favourite to win the race outright: Teahupoo. Average odds: 2/1
• Name: Champion Hurdle. Date: 12 March. Time: 15:30. Odds-on favourite to win the race outright: State Man. Average odds: 2/5
• Name: Queen Mother Champion Chase. Date: 13 March. Time: 15:30. Odds-on favourite to win the race outright: El Fabiolo. Average odds: 4/9

Some of the other races you can bet on this year at the Cheltenham Festival are the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, the Mares Hurdle, the Arkle Chase, the Cross Country Chase, and the Champion Bumper. 

That’s not forgetting the Grand Annual Chase, the Plate Handicap Chase, and the Kim Muir Challenge Cup, to name a few. 

Important things to remember before betting on the 2024 Cheltenham Festival 

Although these 2024 Cheltenham Festival betting odds that are currently being offered by today’s most trusted UK online betting operators are accurate at the time of writing, don’t forget that no bets are guaranteed to win, even if you only bet on the odds-on favourites. 

While the sensible bet would generally be on the favourite because these outcomes have a much higher implied probability rate and are more likely to win, underdogs/outsiders with long odds can still win. 

All you have to do is look at past results of the UK’s Grand National race, for example, where several underdogs have upset the odds. In 1985, The Last Suspect won at 50/1. 

More recently, the 2008 winner, Mon Mone, was priced at 100/1, and a similar thing happened in 2013 when Aurora’s Encore won at 66/1, proving that it’s not always the favourites who win. Also, these odds are subject to change at any time between now and the start of the races. 

Final thoughts

When placing bets on the Cheltenham Festival or Grand National, the advice for people living in the United Kingdom is to only do so on iGaming sites that are fully licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. 

To bet on websites like this from your smartphone, tablet, desktop computer or laptop, you must be at least 18 years old and have an active members account. Today’s most trusted sites are free to register with, and it usually only takes a minute or so to open a new account.