The Experience of The Cheltenham Festival in 2024

The four fabled days of the Cheltenham Festival have again raced by in a whirlwind of excitement, disappointment, awe and fever. The week’s competition has unremarkably been the source of great debate and discussion around performances, ground and betting markets, but this year especially has also seen a great deal of questions being levelled at the festival itself.

The expense of racing has been a growing conversation for years with many people feeling that the sport is pricing out its everyday punters. Tickets have become dearer and dearer but without a similar increase in the quality of the racing, a problem which is exacerbated by the ever-increasing cost of food and drink. No meeting illustrates this problem more than Cheltenham where ticket prices have greatly risen even in just the last few years and a pint will cost you £7.50/ £8, a burger is £10 and a Cornish pasty can set you back £8.50!

With regards to the sport, much of the prior talk predicted an unprecedented Irish domination even before many of Nicky Henderson’s superstar entries including Constitution Hill and Shishkin were withdrawn from competing. Things were not quite so simple however, as Dan Skelton’s four winners helped to make the Prestbury Cup standings not seem so one sided, and the story of the 18-9 result is less about Irish supremacy as it is the superiority of champion trainer Willie Mullins, who is impossible not to marvel at from either side of the Irish Sea. In combination with thrilling storylines including Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp’s winners on Thursday, Captain Guinness’ triumph in the chaotic Queen Mother Champion Chase and plenty of impressive performances from Galopin Des Champs, Ballyburn, Corbetts Cross and Lossiemouth amongst others, the horses and races can certainly be said to have delivered.

Despite it turning out to be a fantastic week of racing, prior concerns perhaps did lead to punters’ voting with their feet and brought the total attendance figures to around 11,000 less than last year. Jockey Club Chief Executive Nevin Truesdale believes that this needs to be looked at in context, given the decline in the affordability of almost everything across the country and that the cost of holding the festival has risen by 50% since 2019. It is also worth considering that the boost following the spectator-less edition in 2021 has likely worn off and been diluted by the new daily attendance cap.

The criticisms being fired at the festival are the same as those that apply to racing generally, but the fact that Cheltenham is the biggest event in the calendar for many does make it an easier target. However, it is also for this reason that I believe that the drawbacks are not nearly as strong as they are portrayed.

This year was the third time in a row that I have been to Cheltenham and for the third time, I could barely fault the experience. My Tuesday ticket for the Best Mate enclosure cost around £40 as I went in a group of 15 but it would have only been around £45 normally. There has been a noticeable price increase since I began going to the festival. My ticket to go on the Friday in 2022 also was £45 but would now cost a decent amount more, but even £60/ £70 doesn’t seem unreasonable for a full day of high-level sport. Food and drink prices have always been high and have increased, but the same can be said for any other heavily attended event like music festivals. In 2022, the cheapest cheeseburger I could find was £8 but this year I paid £10.50 (although I didn’t look at every van), but a can of soft drink now costs £3 instead of £2.80 which is a barely noticeable difference. I was also pleasantly surprised when I ask to buy a bottle of water at one of the bars and they offered me a pint of free water instead and lost a £2.40 sale, although I can’t say I blame the bars and the food vans for charging what they do as people will over-pay for things and expect to have to do so. Without transport, I spent about £60 in total which is undeniably an extremely reasonable outlay for a day out on this scale, but I do acknowledge that most of attendees would have spent considerably more.

Tuesday’s racing was probably the least competitive of the four days but the experience of watching it in person goes far beyond this. The feeling you have for the few minutes that the horses are running is irreplicable whether you’re at the post or in the stands and the memory of being there to witness the greatness of Willie Mullins, often alongside Paul Townend, with your own eyes will be worth far more than handing in a winning docket in years to come when his reign over the event has ended.

It's moments like these that, for me personally, completely overshadow any of the problems at Cheltenham as being there to see the theatre in person is unmatched. It is easy to criticise from a distance, but the atmosphere and feeling of Prestbury Park in March is absolutely magical and is an experience that is impossible to put a price on. People will ask questions but they will still flock to Gloucestershire in their thousands and will continue to do so just for a taste of the drama and elation that is on offer.