Cheltenham Festival 2023 Preview: Dates, Jockeys, Top Horses and More

The 2023 Cheltenham Festival is upon us, and there is plenty of action heading our way over the coming days. Want to learn all about this spectacular event, Cheltenham Festival schedule

Cheltenham Festival 2023 – A Quick Rundown

The Cheltenham Festival is one of the biggest horse racing events of the year, in case you didn’t know that already! It’s a four-day festival that plays host to numerous Grade One races, and many of the top horses/jockeys are set to take to the track in 2023. Given that the festival is pretty much on the doorstep, at the time of writing, now is the ideal time to talk about what’s about to unfold.

So, are you prepared for the famous Cheltenham roar? We certainly are! Yet before everything kicks off, we want to make sure that you are as prepared as possible for the action. We’ve chosen to do that by supplying all important details pertaining to the Cheltenham Festival 2023 right here. And we’ve even discussed the top horses, betting offers, and much more. On that note, let’s begin our run-through of this awesome horse racing event.

2023 Cheltenham Festival – Day by Day

Make sure you’ve got Tuesday, March 14th, written in your diary. This is the first day of the Cheltenham Festival, and it marks the beginning of four, jam-packed days of top-level horse racing. As we’ve briefly mentioned above, each day consists of multiple races too. Some of these events are naturally bigger and more prestigious than others, however. And that’s why you may want to take note of such races as we work through each of the four days right now.

Tuesday, March 14th – Day One

Day One is where you’ll get to witness the famous Cheltenham roar – well worth tuning in for. It’s also a day that has a string of great races, as reflected in the confirmed schedule here:

• Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – Grade 1 – 13:30
• Arkle Chase – Grade 1 – 14:10
• Ultima Handicap Chase – Premier Handicap – 14:50
• Champion Hurdle – Grade 1 – 15:30
• Mares Hurdle – Grade 1 – 16:10
• Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle – Premier Handicap – 16:50
• National Hunt Chase – Grade 2 – 17:30

As you can see, day one of the Cheltenham Festival will host seven races throughout the entire afternoon. It’s also a day that all punters should take note of due to the 4x Grade One events that are scheduled. Naturally, these are the events that receive the most attention from horse racing fans and punters alike.

Wednesday, March 15th – Day Two

After recovering from all of the action on day one, the 2023 Cheltenham Festival will stride directly into another full day of racing. This time around, we’ve got another seven races to keep us all entertained too. Here is the schedule for day two:

• Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle – Grade 1 – 13:30
• Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase – Grade 1 – 14:10
• Coral Cup – Premier Handicap – 14:50
• Queen Mother Champion Chase – Grade 1 – 15:30
• Cross Country Chase – Ungraded – 16:10
• Grand Annual Chase – Premier Handicap – 16:50
• Champion Bumper – Grade 1 – 17:30

Of the 7x races that are set for day two, the highlight has to be the Queen Mother Champion Chase. With 13 fences needing to be jumped over 3.2km of track, this is always an entertaining race to watch.

Thursday, March 16th – Day Three

We know – it’s always sad to look beyond the halfway point in any sporting event. But fear not, the beginning of day three means that there are still two full days of racing to go. And arguably, the intensity of races only grows stronger from day three onwards. However, focusing specifically on day three before we get ahead of ourselves, here’s what’s on the cards:

• Turners Novices’ Chase – Grade 1 – 13:30
• Pertemps Network Final – Premier Handicap – 14:10
• Ryanair Chase – Grade 1 – 14:50
• Stayers’ Hurdle – Grade 1 – 15:30
• Plate Handicap Chase – Premier Handicap – 16:10
• Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle – Grade 2 – 16:50
• Kim Muir Challenge Cup – Ungraded – 17:30

As you can see, the top-level action takes place earlier in the day on day three. In fact, three of the opening four races are Grade Ones. So if you want to tune in to the main events on Thursday, March 16th, you’d better block off some time between 13:30 and 16:00.

Friday, March 17th – Day Four

Finally, we’ve arrived at day four of the Cheltenham Festival 2023. This is when the biggest race of the entire festival is held – the Cheltenham Gold Cup. You’ve got a ton of horses that take to the track for this prestigious race, and there are two more Grade One events to watch as well. As for the entire schedule, please see the upcoming events below:

• Triumph Hurdle – Grade 1 – 13:30
• County Handicap Hurdle – Premier Handicap – 14:10
• Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle – Grade 1 – 14:50
• Cheltenham Gold Cup – Grade 1 – 15:30
• Hunters Chase – Ungraded – 16:10
• Mares’ Chase – Grade 2 – 16:50
• Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle – Ungraded – 17:30

Much like day three, the highest-level races are held before 16:00 in the afternoon. However, the final three races of the day are usually quite spectacular – well worth watching if you can.

Key Horses to Watch at Cheltenham Festival 2023

Now that the entire schedule for the Cheltenham Festival has been laid out, let’s switch our attention to the participants. As reflected in the schedule shared above, the 2023 Cheltenham Festival will host a bunch of top-tier races. So of course, these races attract the best jockeys and horses from around the nation. This isn’t just true because of the prestige of the races – it’s also true of the money involved!

With that said, we want to give you some insight into the top horses who are down to race at the upcoming Cheltenham Festival. And that’s exactly what we’ve covered here.

Galopin Des Champs

You may remember Galopin Des Champs from the 2022 Cheltenham Festival. Sadly, this horse fell when he was on track to win a huge race, costing punters heavily. However, since then, this horse has been absolutely flawless. Galopin Des Champs enters the 2023 Cheltenham Festival off the back of three G1 wins in a row, which is staggering. He will compete in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on day four of the event.

Constitution Hill

Constitution Hill is another big name scheduled to compete at the Cheltenham Festival this year. This horse won the Supreme Novices’ Chase on day one of the festival in 2022 – a Grade One victory, of course. Yet since then, much like Galopin Des Champs, this horse has taken Ws in two additional Grade One races. So really, this is the horse to beat in the Champion Hurdle on day one.

Energumene

This horse famously won the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last year, instantly stealing the hearts of punters all over the nation. And this year, Energumene returns to defend his title. He is currently down as the red-hot favourite to win the race again at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival, but can he do it? Only time will tell.

Best Betting Bonuses for 2023 Cheltenham Festival

Come on – what would the Cheltenham Festival be without taking a wager on the upcoming races? During the four-day festival, bookmakers state that millions of pounds are staked across the board. Now, we don’t encourage such reckless betting from an individual perspective. But we certainly encourage the decision to make use of bonuses if you plan on placing some bets.

So on that note, please see a few of the top Cheltenham sign up offers floating around right now ahead of the Cheltenham Festival 2023:

Ladbrokes

Ladbrokes is currently handing out £20 in free bets for newcomers ahead of the Cheltenham Festival. These can be claimed by registering and placing a mere £5 bet. Plus, Ladbrokes is expected to have a range of other promotions throughout the festival.

Bet365

By registering with bet365, you can place just a single wager in exchange for a handful of free bet tokens. This is a larger betting bonus than what’s available at the other bookmakers on this list. And topping things off, bet365 has fantastic odds for the Cheltenham Festival as a whole.

Coral

Coral has an identical sign up offer to the one that we’ve just highlighted for Ladbrokes. Then again, they are owned and managed by the same company. But as a refresher, Coral grants £20 in free bets to new customers once they’ve signed up and placed a £5 wager.

William Hill

Last but by no means least, you can snap up a solid welcome offer at William Hill that can be used for Cheltenham Festival betting. Currently, you can sign up and place a £10 wager in exchange for £30 in free sports bets. Of course, these can then be applied to your chosen races for the coming festival.