Races, betting, tips and more

This guide will show you everything you need to know about enjoying Cheltenham, including where to watch live, how to check the latest odds and race cards, and steps on how to claim the best Cheltenham free bet offers through oddschecker. You don’t need to know the difference between a novice chaser and a bumper horse to get involved, as this guide is for casual fans and seasoned punters alike.

The Cheltenham Festival 2026 runs from 10–13 March, a fourday celebration of jump racing that builds toward its showpiece, the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday. Across all four days, the racing follows a familiar afternoon rhythm, with the first race typically starting at 13:20 and the last going off around 17:20, giving fans a solid afternoon block of action to settle into. 

What makes these days matter is the prestige. 28 races, including multiple Grade One contests, fierce Irish vs British rivalry that defines the Prestbury Cup narrative, and the famous Festival atmosphere that traditionally packs Prestbury Park with hundreds of thousands of racegoers. But you don’t need to be in the stands to feel part of it, as the Festival lives through office sweepstakes, WhatsApp group debates, and whether you’re catching the drama from the pub or from the sofa, it’s become a social event as much as a sporting one. 

Playing JOE x BOYLE Sports’ Free To Play Predictor game for the Cheltenham Festival is simple – we’ve picked out one horse running in each of the first five races every day of Cheltenham, and all you need to do is decide if it will Win, Place or finish Unplaced!

In this section, we’ll show you how to watch the Cheltenham Festival live, so you can keep up with the action as it unfolds at Prestbury Park.

ITV will once again screen the bulk of the Cheltenham Festival action live and free on ITV1, with daily broadcasts running from 12:45pm to 5pm, giving viewers the first six races of each day before coverage switches to subscription channels for the finale. As at Cheltenham every year, ITV does not show the final race, the seventh race, because it falls outside their transmission window, meaning fans need Racing TV for full endtoend coverage. 

All ITV1 coverage is also available to stream via the ITVX app, which carries the same live races and works across smart TVs, mobiles, tablets and laptops, making it easy to follow the festival wherever you are. With demand high and race times tight, it’s sensible to sign in to ITVX before the opening race at 1:20pm to avoid any lastminute delays when the action begins. 

Racing TV is the dedicated subscription channel that broadcasts every single race from the Cheltenham Festival, including the final race each day that ITV does not show. This makes it the only way to watch the entire sevenrace daily schedule live without missing anything. 

Access to Racing TV is available through multiple platforms, subscribers can watch via Sky and Virgin Media, as well as through the Racing TV website and app, which stream all races live and offer additional features such as ondemand analysis, previews and expert breakdowns. 

For committed racing enthusiasts, Racing TV is ideal, it provides comprehensive coverage of every race, plus expert analysis, previews, replays, and extended commentary, making it the goto option for hardcore fans who want an uninterrupted, fullfestival experience. 

 Next, we will highlight the best way to check Cheltenham odds as it’s important to always compare the prices between bookmakers throughout the festival: 

When betting at the Cheltenham Festival, comparing odds is crucial, even small price differences can add up significantly over the course of four days, especially if you’re placing multiple bets or backing several horses across the card. Oddschecker’s Cheltenham pages are designed to make this easy, presenting odds grids that display prices from a wide range of major bookmakers so you can instantly spot the best available value on any runner. These grids also highlight key betting perks such as enhanced offers, free bets, and other promotional boosts, all of which can shift the overall value of your wager. 

For example, you might see a horse priced at 4/1 with one bookmaker, while another is offering 9/2 on the same runner, which may seem like a subtle difference, but one that meaningfully increases your potential return. Using Oddschecker’s comparison tools ensures you never miss these price gaps, helping you maximise value before placing your bet.

Racecards are the essential guide to every race at the Cheltenham Festival, as they list runners and riders, jockeys, trainers, recent form, and the going (track conditions), giving punters a clear picture of what to expect before placing a bet. You can access Cheltenham racecards easily through oddschecker’s Cheltenham section and its broader horse racing pages, where cards display all runners and relevant race information alongside odds comparison tools. 

• Horse name & number – Identify the runner and its position in the line-up. 
• Jockey & trainer – Key partnerships influence performance and betting value. 
• Recent form – Usually shown as a string of letters/numbers indicating finishing positions. 
• Going description – Tells you the ground conditions (e.g., good, soft), which heavily affect some horses. 
• Distance & race class – Useful for judging suitability based on previous performances. 
• Entries & odds – Some cards include live or antepost bookmaker odds to help assess value.

Together, these details help you understand the shape of a race, spot potential value, and make more informed decisions throughout the festival.

Here’s a quick guide to hunting down the best Cheltenham Free Bet offers, so you can always secure the most value for the festival:

Cheltenham week is one of the busiest and most competitive periods of the year for bookmaker promotions, with operators pushing out some of their strongest incentives to attract punters during the festival’s fourday betting frenzy. Bookmakers treat Cheltenham as a showcase event, leading to a surge in boosted odds, moneyback specials, enhanced place terms, and generous signup deals designed to stand out in a highly crowded market. 

Oddschecker makes life easier by aggregating the best Cheltenham free bet offers in one place, so you don’t have to manually check every bookmaker’s website. Their festival hub collects all the top promos, including boosts, welcome deals, and enhanced place specials, saving valuable time during the busiest betting week of the year. 

• Bet X, Get Y in Free Bets – e.g., place a qualifying bet and receive multiple freebet tokens. 
• Extra Places on Big Handicaps – ideal for eachway bettors looking to increase their chance of a return. 
• Price Boosts on Festival Favourites – enhanced odds on popular runners throughout the week. 

• Always check the terms and conditions, especially minimum odds, stake limits, expiry windows, and wagering requirements. 
• Spread your stakes across a few different bookmakers to take advantage of multiple promos rather than relying on a single account. 

Taking a few minutes to compare offers and read the small print can significantly increase your betting value during Cheltenham week.

• 13:20 – Supreme Novices’ Hurdle
• 14:00 – Arkle Novices’ Chase
• 14:40 – Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
• 15:20 – Mares’ Hurdle
• 16:00 – Champion Hurdle
• 16:40 – Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
• 17:20 – National Hunt Chase

• 13:20 – Turners Novices’ Hurdle
• 14:00 – Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
• 14:40 – Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle
• 15:20 – Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase
• 16:00 – Queen Mother Champion Chase
• 16:40 – Grand Annual Handicap Chase
• 17:20 – Champion Bumper

• 13:20 – Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle
• 14:00 – Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase
• 14:40 – Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle
• 15:20 – Stayers’ Hurdle
• 16:00 – Ryanair Chase
• 16:40 – Paddy Power Plate Handicap Chase
• 17:20 – Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase

• 13:20 – Triumph Hurdle
• 14:00 – County Handicap Hurdle
• 14:40 – Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase
• 15:20 – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle
• 16:00 – Cheltenham Gold Cup
• 16:40 – Hunter Chase (Challenge Cup)
• 17:20 – Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle