Cheltenham Festival 2024: Race times, tips, TV channel and latest odds

The Cheltenham Festival is fast approaching, meaning trainers are putting the final touches to finest National Hunt horses in Britain and Ireland for the most prestigious jumps meeting of the season. 

Hundreds of thousands will descend on Cheltenham in the second week in March, to see the likes of Galopin Des Champs and Constitution Hill strut their stuff up the famous Cheltenham hill. 

The Cheltenham Festival starts on Tuesday, March 12 and ends on Friday, March 14. 

The Cheltenham Festival is a four-day race meeting.

ITV have the free-to-air broadcast rights and will show the first five races of each day of the meeting. For comprehensive coverage you will need a subscription to Racing TV, which can be accessed through Sky and Virgin Media, or streamed online.

There are 28 races run over the four days. Each day has one ‘feature’ race: Champion Hurdle (Tuesday), Queen Mother Champion Chase (Wednesday), Stayers’ Hurdle (Thursday) and the Cheltenham Gold Cup (Friday).

1.30: Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
2.10: Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase (Grade 1)
2.50: Ultima Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap)
3.30: Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy (Grade 1)
4.10:
4.50: Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap)
5.30: National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Novices’ Chase (Grade 2) 

1.30: Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) 
2.10: Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (Grade 1)  
2.50: Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap)  
3.30: Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1)
4.10: Glenfarclas Chase (Cross Country Chase) 
4.50: Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap)
5.30: Weatherbys Champion Bumper (Grade 1)

1.30: Turners Novices’ Chase (Grade 1)
2.10: Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap)   
2.50: Ryanair Chase (Grade 1)    
3.30: Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (Grade 1) 
4.10: TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap)  
4.50: Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2)  
5.30: Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase

1.30: JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1) (New Course)
2.10: County Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) (New Course)
2.50: Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
3.30:Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase (Grade 1)
4.10: St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase
4.50: Paddy Power Mares’ Chase (Grade 2)
5.30: Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle

By Marcus Armytage

Nicky Henderson faces a race against time to get Constitution Hill, the Cheltenham Festival’s most established star and British banker, ready to defend his Champion Hurdle title after the seven-year-old worked poorly and subsequently scoped badly in a public gallop at Kempton yesterday.

The gelding, unbeaten in eight hurdle races, is on a course of antibiotics and a spoonful of honey after analysis of a sample of fluid from his lungs taken by a vet using an endoscope showed raised levels of neutrophils, indicating a respiratory infection.  

In normal circumstances Constitution Hill would have sat in behind the Triumph Hurdle favourite Sir Gino and Quick Draw before cruising up to them. But, clearly realising something was wrong, Nico de Boinville, who has ridden him in all his races and most important bits of work, sat up on him and let him coast home.