Cheltenham Festival Tickets Continued
The Cheltenham Festival was traditionally run over the course of three days, but this
changed in 2005 with the introduction of a fourth day. There are 24 races overall, with Grade One
events including the Champion Bumper, Triumph Hurdle, Supreme Novices' Hurdle, Ballymore
Properties Novices' Hurdle, Arkle Challenge Trophy, Royal & SunAlliance Chase, Champion
Hurdle, World Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and the feature race, the Cheltenham Gold
Cup.
Huge amounts of money are bet, with hundreds of millions of pounds being gambled over the
four days and so the Cheltenham Festival is often noted for its atmosphere. Also notable
about the event is the famous Cheltenham roar, which refers to the enormous amount of noise that
the crowd generates as the horses enter the home straight and long run in. There is also a huge
roar when the first race starts on the opening day.
The top jockey for the Cheltenham Festival is the jockey who wins the most races over
the four days. The winners since 1980 (with number of races won in brackets) are:
2006: Ruby Walsh (3)
2005: Graham Lee (3)
2004: Ruby Walsh (3)
2003: Barry Geraghty (5)
2002: Richard Johnson (2)
2001: No Festival (due to foot & mouth disease outbreak)
2000: Mick FitzGerald (4)
1999: Mick FitzGerald (4)
1998: Tony McCoy (5)
1997: Tony McCoy (3)
1996: Richard Dunwoody (2)
1995: Norman Williamson (4)
1994: Charlie Swan (3)
1993: Charlie Swan (4)
1992: Jamie Osborne (5)
1991: Peter Scudamore (2)
1990: Richard Dunwoody (2)
1989: Tom Morgan (2)
1988: Simon Sherwood (2)
1987: Peter Scudamore (2)
1986: Peter Scudamore (2)
1985: Steve Smith Eccles (3)
1984: Jonjo O'Neill (2)
1983: Graham Bradley (2)
1982: Jonjo O'Neill (1)
1981: John Francome (3)
1980: Jim Wilson (3)
