Fun Facts About Cheltenham Festival - H1
Being one of the most popular and prestigious horse racing meetings in the UK, Cheltenham Festival manages to attract spectators, racing enthusiasts and horse racing betting fans from all corners of the globe. Beyond its thrilling races, iconic moments and renowned traditions, however, there are countless interesting facts about the Cheltenham Festival that make it even more interesting and add to its legacy even further.
Facts About The Cheltenham Racecourse - H2
When watching Cheltenham Festival on the TV, the iconic triple-deck tented village catches the eye of many spectators. However, it is not widely known that these grandstands are actually only temporary, with the 40,000 square metres of concourse being the biggest in Europe.
Another relatively unknown Cheltenham Festival fact is that an outbreak close to the racecourse actually caused it to be cancelled for the first and only time in 2001. With cases of foot and mouth disease being confirmed in the local area, this placed the iconic Cheltenham racecourse within an exclusion zone, subsequently leading it to be called off.
Facts About Travelling To Cheltenham Festival - H2
As Cheltenham Festival is located in a rather remote section of Gloucestershire, there are limited means of actually travelling to the meeting itself. As a result of this, the organisers actually orchestrate various logistical operations, with one of these being the shuttle bus service. This transports up to 80,000 every year, however, this is not the main means of travel. The relatively small Cheltenham Spa train station actually sees more people use it, with almost 135,000 visitors making their way through its gates over the four-day period.
Due to it attracting fans of horse racing from all over the UK and the rest of the world, Cheltenham Festival unsurprisingly increases air traffic. Not only are there almost 100 helicopters landing and taking off each day, but the Ryanair airline actually puts on an extra 30 flights to the surrounding areas each year, something which you may not expect for a horse race meeting alone.
Facts About Racing At Cheltenham Festival - H2
Although many are familiar with the course at Cheltenham Festival and the prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup , fewer are likely to be aware of the actual statistics regarding the track. Surrounding the green turf, there are 12,320 yards of white running rails on both sides, with there also being 21 separate hurdle positions. To make the iconic jumps at Cheltenham, there are 5,000 bundles of birch used every single year, and this is what makes the 28 jump races so iconic.
In 2019, there were a number of records set at Cheltenham Festival, one of these being its highest opening attendance. The first day of the festival saw 67,934 spectators flock to the enclosures, with this being the same year with the largest prize money pool to date. Over the 4 days, the prize pool was a record-breaking £4,590,000, with it surpassing an average of £1,000,000 per day by far!
The most number of wins by a single jockey in a year at Cheltenham Festival is 7, with Ruby Walsh being the first to claim this accolade in 2016. Cheltenham success seems to run in the blood of the Walsh family, too, with his sister Katie Walsh becoming the first-ever female jockey to claim victory in a Grade 1 race, doing so in 2018.
Facts About Food & Drink At Cheltenham Festival - H2
Even though food and drink are not a central component of Cheltenham Festival to many, it still gains a couple of headlines each year, most notably due to its questionable prices to many spectators. However, 2015 saw some in-depth tracking of the catering operations, with an immense 45,000 afternoon teas being served to guests over 4 days. The same number of bread rolls of all things were also dished out to spectators, with 8,000 gallons of coffee being poured, too.
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