Cheltenham Tips for the 2026 Festival

Welcome to our Cheltenham tips section - providing you with all the best 2026 Cheltenham Festival tips!

Below, our expert tipsters have picked out their best bets for every race, as well as daily Lucky 15s, best bets, accumulator tips and more!

About The Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Festival is one of the biggest events on the sporting calendar. Every year, as many as 250,000 people descend on Cheltenham racecourse to watch the world’s finest horses race around this magnificent track.The famous ‘Cheltenham roar’ is a sight to behold. As the horses come up the final straight, they’re cheered on by thousands of punters who have all staked cash on the outcome.Fancy betting on the Cheltenham Festival this year? We can help you make informed betting decisions. On this page you’ll find all of our best Cheltenham tips, as well as all the latest bookie sign-up offers and free bet options.

Thursday's Daily Horse Racing Tips

ClockStarts: 4 Hours 45 Minutes
The Winners Enclosure
The Winners Enclosure
Coolkatie silk
Coolkatie
13:13 Ayr
Thecoffeepoddotco silk
Thecoffeepoddotco
13:20 Lingfield
Follow Charlie silk
Follow Charlie
13:43 Ayr
Rocheval silk
Rocheval
15:13 Ayr
Tommy's Promise silk
Tommy's Promise
15:20 Lingfield
Netywell silk
Netywell
15:43 Ayr
Sparkling Water silk
Sparkling Water
16:33 Wincanton
Marcus silk
Marcus
17:00 Chelmsford City
Secret History silk
Secret History
17:30 Chelmsford City
Twilight Fun silk
Twilight Fun
18:30 Chelmsford City
Impulse Buy silk
Impulse Buy
19:00 Chelmsford City

Cheltenham Festival 2026 FAQs

How to Get to Cheltenham Racecourse

Thousands of people from across the UK, Ireland and the rest of the world flock to Cheltenham Racecourse to be part of the year’s key horse racing events. Choosing to use public transport is a common occurrence, with Cheltenham Racecourse Train Station situated close to the grounds.

If you’d rather drive, then there’s plenty of parking available. This is usually free, but you must pay for parking during the Cheltenham Festival and the Saturday of the November meeting.
It’s always advised to arrive early to beat the traffic, with pre-booked parking preferable in order to assure your space as you arrive. Coach travel is also available online, as well as a pick up and drop off point if you’re able to catch a lift from someone who isn’t attending.

Here’s the information for your sat nav:

Cheltenham Racecourse

Cheltenham

Gloucestershire

GL50 4SH

Tel: 01242 513 014

Ticketing Information For Cheltenham Races

If you’re looking to visit the racecourse in the coming months, you’ll be able to see all of the current ticket availability for Cheltenham horse racing on their website.

You can book your Cheltenham tickets in advance, with smaller racing days being priced as low as £10 and Cheltenham Festival tickets usually being priced around the £50-£100 mark, depending on the enclosure.

Purchasing a ticket couldn’t be much easier, but the only obstacle is how quickly they could sell out. So, if you want to see some of the Cheltenham horse racing, then it’s always advised to get yours as early as possible.

Cheltenham Racecourse Dress Code

Cheltenham Racecourse doesn’t just attract those in fancy hats and expensive frocks. Unlike most racecourses, the Cheltenham races dress code isn’t limiting. Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t a specified Cheltenham Gold Cup dress code and there’s no requirement to wear a suit or a dress during the Cheltenham Festival.

Instead, Cheltenham Racecourse asks racegoers to come “dressed to feel your best”. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the Cheltenham horse racing meetings take place in winter. The course only asks that attendees do not wear the kits of sports teams when attending one of their race days.

That said, suits are still commonplace for men and ladies will usually adorn a hat. However, the winter months do tend to dictate how much highbrow fashion occurs during any Cheltenham race meeting.

Cheltenham Racecourse Maps

Cheltenham Racecourse has two separate courses that run alongside each other and are known as the Old Course and the New Course. Since 1995, the racecourse has also been home to a Cross Country Steeplechase Course.

The Old Course is used for the first two days of The Cheltenham Festival, The November Meeting and The Showcase, which takes place in October.

It’s left-handed, undulating and features stiff fences that place a premium on good jumping. The last half a mile is uphill, so a fair amount of stamina is required.

As for the new course, it’s used for Christmas and New Year meetings, Festival Trials Day and the third and fourth days of The Cheltenham Festival, as well as further race meetings over April and May.

The New Course has a tricky downhill fence and a longer run-in for steeplechases than the Old Course. Hurdle races over two miles on the New Course are slightly peculiar because most of the hurdles are jumped early on in the race. In fact, only two hurdles are jumped in the last seven furlongs.

Cheltenham Racecourse is also home to a Cross Country Course. Formed through obstacles such as water, timber rails, banks, ditches and hedges, it was designed by Mike Etherington-Smith, who also designed the cross-country course that was used in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The Cheltenham Cross Country Course is used during day two of the Cheltenham Festival, as well as the November meeting and the Christmas meeting.

Cheltenham Racecourse Betting

Each day of the Cheltenham Festival, around 65,000 punters descend on Cheltenham Racecourse to watch the action unfold live. Millions more watch on TV and bet on the live action.

If you’re attending the Cheltenham Festival or any of the Cheltenham race meetings, then betting is a time-honoured tradition. As a result, betting facilities are available across all of the enclosures.

Plus, when you’re at Cheltenham races, you’ll have the option to place bets via your phone using the free Wi-Fi, via the Totepool or the bookmakers. Many of the bookmakers at the course still accept cash, but some also now accept debit cards. That said, there are no cash machines at Cheltenham Racecourse, so if you’d like to bet using cash then you’ll need to bring it with you.

Within each betting ring, you’ll find all the information you need to make an informed bet, including the odds and the list of runners. Each bookmaker will also clearly display their minimum stake value, as well as whether they’re taking on Each Way or Win Only bets.

Totepools are slightly different. They still allow you to place a range of bets, but the amount you’ll win is calculated differently. Rather than fixed odds, the amount you’ll win is instead determined by the total amount staked on the race and on the particular horse that wins.

Finally, Cheltenham Racecourse also has its own on-site betting shops. These function just like high-street betting shops do, so you can bet on anything you like.

Cheltenham Races

Located in Gloucestershire in the South West of England, Cheltenham Racecourse has been used for professional horse racing since 1815. It now hosts some of the best and most prestigious races on the British racing calendar. In fact, no horse can be considered a true champion of National Hunt racing without proving itself in a blue riband event at Cheltenham, such as the Gold Cup or the Champion Hurdle.

Racing has been popular at Cheltenham ever since the racecourse opened its doors for the first time. In fact, the crowds at Cheltenham races grew to as many as 30,000 in the space of a decade. This led to the introduction of a two-day July meeting that featured what would eventually become the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Today, around 700,000 people visit Cheltenham Racecourse each year. Almost half of these visit during the Cheltenham Festival, which is held in March.

For trainers and jockeys, owning or riding a winner at the Festival is seen as one of the sport’s greatest achievements. The biggest prizes are the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup, but riding any winner at the Cheltenham Festival is viewed as a great honour. Unsurprisingly, the setting has played host to some of the greatest names in jump racing history; from Kauto Star and Denman to Long Run and Best Mate.

But, there’s a lot more going on at Cheltenham Racecourse than just the Cheltenham Festival. The racecourse’s opening meeting in October is viewed by many as the unofficial start of the jumps season, whilst the standard of racing at the November and December Cheltenham race meetings is almost as high as it is at the Festival itself.

In total, Cheltenham Racecourse hosts eight meetings and 16 days of racing. Cheltenham horse racing events in 2024 include:

  • The Showcase - October
  • The November Meeting - November
  • The Christmas Meeting - December
  • New Year’s Day - January
  • Festival Trials Day - January
  • Cheltenham Festival - March
  • The April Meeting - April
  • Race Night - May

The Festival may be the big one, but regardless of which of the Cheltenham race meetings you attend, you’re guaranteed to witness some top-class racing.

Today’s Best Cheltenham Tips

Although our Cheltenham racing tips are heavily researched by our team, there is of course no guarantee that they will win. But, we think our track record speaks for itself.

After all, we’ve been helping almost a quarter of a million Twitter/X followers and 200,000 Facebook followers for more than a decade. Our experts are constantly working hard to bring you the best Cheltenham Festival tips around, and we work tirelessly to make sure there is a strong chance of you landing one or more winning bets.

Once our Cheltenham 2025 tips are ready to be revealed, we’ll put them right here. We always post our Cheltenham betting tips as quickly as possible, meaning you’ll often have more than just one day to back them.

In addition to this, to make your research as easy as possible, we’ve created specific Cheltenham tips pages for each of the four days at the festival.

Cheltenham Tips for tomorrow

Looking to place your bets in advance? Our specific Cheltenham racing tips pages above will help you find the best Cheltenham ante-post tips for all the days of the festival.

By betting well before the start of the race, you may get better odds on your horse. This is because, as more people see tips and the race draws closer, odds can fluctuate or drift.

So, if you see a bet that you like and you love the logic, it can often be better to place your bets early. Here at the Winners Enclosure, we always make sure our Cheltenham betting tips are available well in advance, so you can get ahead of the crowd.

Multiples Tips for Cheltenham

Our Cheltenham racing tips are our predictions for who we think has a good chance of winning any given race at the festival.In addition to the Cheltenham tips found on this page, we recommend that you also head over to our main website.

You will also be able to formulate your own Cheltenham multiples bets by using our tips from each race and combining them to create bets with higher odds. If these bets are successful, you’ll receive a much higher return.The Gold Cup is the highlight of the meeting, but the Cheltenham Festival features four days of exciting and competitive action, as well as a number of feature races. Due to the quality of the racing and the number of people who both attend the Cheltenham Festival or watch it live on the TV, many bookies offer plenty of free bets. As a result, there’s the opportunity for those who fancy a flutter to make some serious cash while also mitigating their risk.

Placing Our Cheltenham Tips

If you’re new to betting on horse racing, you may find selecting and betting on the Cheltenham Festival to be quite daunting. However, our Cheltenham races tips are here to help you select a horse and get the best odds possible.

We’ve also made it as easy as possible for you to place your Cheltenham bets. After all, you don’t need to go away and scour each individual bookmaker’s website. All you need to do is click on the odds that appear next to each of our Cheltenham Festival tips. Then, you’ll be offered a selection of odds from each of our top bookmakers. Just click on your preferred bookmaker and you’ll be able to add the selection straight to your betslip quickly and easily.

Using Free Bets on Cheltenham Tips

The Cheltenham Festival is one of the best times of the year to bet on horse racing. As a result, a majority of popular bookmakers offer free bets that punters can make the most of.

The racing tips for Cheltenham that we provide on this page can usually be used in conjunction with many of the free bet offers available during the event. No matter whether you’re a Cheltenham novice or someone who attends the festival every year, there’s sure to be plenty of free bet offers for you to choose from. So, start scouring our Cheltenham races tips now and make sure you’re in the know for when the festival rolls around.

Placing Your Qualifying Bet

Some of the welcome bonuses from bookmakers require you to place a qualifying bet of something like £5 or £10 (you can find out the exact requirement for the offer you’ve found by checking the T&Cs).

You can take full advantage of welcome bonuses or free bets on each day of the festival. The best way to do this is usually to bet on our Cheltenham tip for the first race of the day. Once this bet has settled, you’re then usually able to unlock the rest of the free bet offer, which may include other free bets or money back that you can use on the other races throughout the day. Head over to our free bets page to see which offers are currently available.