Looking forward to the Cheltenham Festival
Put simply the Cheltenham Festival is the pinnacle of the National Hunt season - featuring nearly all of the seasons leading horses in the most prestigious races.
This year’s Festival will carry an extra significance in that this year it will celebrate its centenary. Unlike the flat season where there are various peaks and troughs throughout the year, most of the jumps calendar revolves around Cheltenham and those four days in March when every race is packed with equine quality.
The feature events which take place as the centrepiece on each of one of the four days are in chronological order the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, World Hurdle and the highlight of the week the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Anyone looking to place Cheltenham 2011 bets will be spoilt for choice.
Just reading through the names of the winners of those four races will evoke great memories of Festivals past and make any horseracing fan wish they were there or able to catch the action on TV. Eminent horses such as Kauto Star, Best Mate, Istabraq, Denman and looking further back Desert Orchid all won at the Festival and will always be remembered for their exploits at Cheltenham and the Festival in particular than anywhere else.
Of course the horses are important and central to the action but there are other facets of Cheltenham life which are equally important – the jockeys, trainers, bookmakers and punters all contribute to the rich tableau of the Festival and there will be plenty of Cheltenham betting offers to enjoy.
The build up to the Cheltenham Festival really starts to gather pace in the New Year, with a plethora of preview publications, preview nights and advice from a welter of pundits and experts. So there should be plenty for fans to get their teeth into as March approaches.
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