Cheltenham Festival: Gold Cup Day

In just about a week, you will have a chance to bet on Cheltenham Festival 2017, one of the biggest events in horse racing!  This four-day event includes seven races every day, starting with Champion Day on March 14^th and concluding with Gold Cup Day on March 17^th. 

Here is the schedule for Gold Cup Day:

1:30     JCB Triumph Hurdle (2m 1f)

2:10     Radox Health County Handicap Hurdle Race (2m 1f)

2:50     Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle Race (3m)

3:30     The Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup Steeple Chase (3m 2 1/2f)

4:10     The St James's Place Foxhunter Steeple Chase Challenge Cup (3m 2 1/2f)

4:50     Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle Race (2m 4 1/2f)

5:30     Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Steeple Chase  Challenge Cup (2m 1/2f)

While all of these races are a thrill to watch and wager on, the biggest event of all is the Gold Cup Steeple Chase.  One of the biggest stories this year is about a horse that won’t appear in the chase.  Colin Tizzard’s novice chaser Thistlecrack was a highly anticipated runner, but due to a tendon injury, he will be sitting out the rest of the season. 

Nonetheless, Tizzard will still have two other horses running in the race, Native River and Cue Card.  Tizzard originally thought of fielding Cue Card in Ryanair, but decided that he’d regret it if he didn’t give Cue Card a shot at the Gold Cup. 

Tickets to Gold Cup Day are the most coveted of all the Cheltenham race days.  In fact, they have already sold out for 2017.  According to Cheltenham Festival chief executive Ian Renton, this happened “significantly earlier than in 2016.”  Moreover, Renton reports that there has been “strong demand for badges and tickets across all four days of the festival, not just Gold Cup Day.”

So if you were hoping to sit in the stands and watch the races in person on Gold Cup Day this year, you are out of luck.  But if you hurry, you still may be able to get a seat in one of the enclosures on Champion Day, Ladies Day or St. Patrick’s Thursday.

How can you watch and wager on Gold Cup Day races for Cheltenham 2017?  Thankfully, you are not out of luck in that respect; you can still participate by casting your wagers online at one of our recommended UK betting sites. 

Be sure to check out the top promotions for Cheltenham Festival 2017 in our main page.  You can watch the races live online at the same sites where you are placing your bets, or you can tune into ITV, which has taken over horse racing broadcasts for Channel 4.

Read up on the first three days of Cheltenham:

• Champion Day

• Ladies Day and 

• St. Patrick’s Day.