Cheltenham racecourse begins formal talks over extending Festival to five days

Cheltenham racecourse said on Friday that it has started formal consultations with owners and trainers over the possibility of adding a fifth day to its big Festival meeting in March. A report in the Racing Post [£] suggests that the Jockey Club, which owns the course, could seek to squeeze even more money from its biggest cash cow from 2024.

The Festival expanded from three days to four – Tuesday to Friday – in 2005 and speculation over the possible addition of a fifth afternoon has been a talking point in the meeting’s aftermath for several years. Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood, both Flat racing Festivals in the summer months, are currently the only five-day meetings in the British calendar.

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Until now, however, the course has not conducted any formal consultation with interested parties, or set what appears to be a deadline – of this autumn – for a decision on the move, ahead of a switch to five days in just under two years’ time. The expectation is that two races would be added to the current 28, to create a meeting with six-race cards each day, rather than the current seven.

The Racing Post’s report quotes Ian Renton, Cheltenham’s managing director, as suggesting that the track will “get people’s opinions so we can take a much more rational view on how people feel”, that it will “listen to everyone’s views” and that it is “not going to make any decision lightly”.

Initially the consultation will include owners and trainers, but it is also likely to expand to the track’s annual members. Whether there will be any attempt to survey non-members who attended the Festival in recent seasons, to assess whether they might feel short-changed by