Cheltenham Races 2024 Schedule & Start Times

| March 04 |

5 mins read

The 2024 Cheltenham Festival starts on Tuesday, March 12 and here at Betfred Insights, we take you through the schedule, so you can plan your week accordingly, so you can ensure you can watch as many of the Cheltenham Races as possible…

The first day of the Cheltenham Festival starts as it traditionally does with the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Star trainer Willie Mullins has the top three in the betting a week out as he looks to get his event off to the perfect start. Back in January, our man Owen McMahon tipped up Ballyburn at 7/1 on the Ante-Post, he currently sits as the 10/11 favourite.

At 15:30, the Champion Hurdle is scheduled to get under way and that race was set to be one of the bankers of the event with Constitution Hill the heavy favourite to romp home yet again. The news however is that the star horse is out of the race and will not be appearing at the Festival due to illness. State Man is now expected to go off as the betting favourite but suddenly, the feature race of day has become a lot more interesting in the markets.

You can check out the full Day 1 schedule below.

Day 1 - Tuesday, March 12, 2024

13:30 - Supreme Novices’ Hurdle - ITV
14:10 - Arkle Challenge Trophy - ITV
14:50 - Handicap Steeple Chase - ITV
15:30 - Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy - ITV
16:10 - Mares’ Hurdle - ITV
16:50 - Juvenile Handicap Hurdle - Racing TV
17:30 - National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup - Racing TV

For Day 2, the action will get underway with the Grade 1 Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle, where our Ante-Post tipster Owen McMahon was clearly ahead of the game. Back in November, he put up Ile Atlantique at 20/1 and as of the time of writing, the six-year-old is just 4/1, this is despite him finishing second as the 6/4 favourite is his only race so far this calendar year.

In the Queen Mother Champion Chase at 15:30, the drift for Jonbon has been more than noticeable with El Fabiolo now being seen as the betting favourite. For those interested in the Grand National, watching how the Cross Country Chase plays out may well be a good indicator as we’ve seen Tiger Roll doing the double in both 2018 and 2019.

You can check out the full Day 2 schedule below.

Day 2 - Wednesday, March 13, 2024

13:30 - Novices’ Hurdle - ITV
14:10 - Novices’ Steeple Chase - ITV
14:50 - Coral Cup Hurdle - ITV
15:30 - Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase - ITV
16:10 - Cross Country Steeple Chase - ITV
16:50 - Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Steeple Chase Challenge Cup - Racing TV
17:30 - Champion Bumper - Racing TV

Day 3 is St. Patrick’s Day and the action should be red-hot. We start with the Turners Novices’ Chase and as of a week before Cheltenham, no fewer than eight horses are priced up in single-digits. Our Ante-Post tipster once more looks to have been ahead of the game, putting up Fact to File last November at 16/1. The Willie Mullins’ trained seven-year-old is currently the 5/2 favourite.

Another race Owen has looked at for Day 3 is the Ryanair Chase, where Conflated is his Ante-Post choice at 12/1 (now 7/1). For the feature race of the day, it is Sir Gerhard who at 20/1 was his choice back in December. The Willie Mullins’ trained horse is the fifth-choice in the market at half the price as of the time of writing. Two Gordon Elliott runners, Teahupoo and Irish Point are the favourites according to Betfred’s odds.

You can check out the full Day 3 schedule below.

Day 3 - Thursday, March 14, 2024

13:30 - Turners Novices’ - ITV
14:10 - Pertemps Network Final - ITV
14:50 - Ryanair Steeple Chase - ITV
15:30 - Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle - ITV
16:10 - Magners Plate - ITV
16:50 - Jack de Bromhead Mares Novices’ Hurdle - Racing TV
17:30 - Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup - Racing TV

Day 4 is Gold Cup day and the second most-famous horse race over fences in the UK, will be the fourth race on the card, with a 15:30 start time and live on ITV1. Galopin Des Champs enters the race at around Even money to repeat his success from a year ago. He may well be one of the heaviest favourites of the whole event when all is said and done.

Before that race though, we start our day with the Triumph Hurdle and our Ante-Post has certainly rolled the dice on his pick here. He’s going with the long shot Karafon, who will be available at a big price. Before the big one, the Albert Bartlett will provide plenty of betting intrigue, with no runaway favourite and a gaggle of entries expected to go off around the 8/1 mark.

You can check out the full Day 4 schedule below.

Day 4 - Friday, March 15, 2024

13:30 - Triumph Hurdle - ITV
14:10 - County Handicap Hurdle - ITV
14:50 - Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle - ITV
15:30 - Cheltenham Gold Cup - ITV
16:10 - Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Steeple Chase - ITV
16:50 - Mares’ Steeple Chase - Racing TV
17:30 - Martin Pipe Conditional Jockey’s Handicap Hurdle - Racing TV

Our team of writers here at Betfred Insights will preview every race and provide their Cheltenham Tips throughout the festival, so make sure you check-in with us for all the betting news you need ahead of the Cheltenham Races this year...