The Cheltenham Festival is a week-long National Hunt horse racing event which takes place annually in March.
It is incredibly popular with Irish visitors as it usually coincides with St. Patrick’s Day, and the prize money on offer within the Festival is second only to the Grand National.
The official title of the race is the National Hunt Meeting, which originated in 1860 at Market Harborough. It has been held at a number of courses over the years, including Prestbury Park and Warwick, prior to the establishment of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1924.
The event in 2011 comprised of twenty-eight races taking place over the course of four days. The Cheltenham Gold Cup took places on the final day of the Festival, and is widely considered the most significant race of the whole meeting.
Although extremely popular among punters and the gambling contingent of the United Kingdom and indeed large parts of the world, the event has come under much scrutiny from animal rights campaigners.
For a large number of years, there have been growing concerns from certain factions of society regarding the fatality rates of horses participating in the race. As a way to counteract the problem, organisers looked to re-site one of the more problematical fences and reduce the number of competitors in certain racers, but many still deem this an insufficient change.
The outcry was most documented in 2006, when eleven horses reportedly died.
Until 2005, the Festival was held over a three day period, with a fourth day being introduced only recently. This allowed a championship race to take place on each of the four days, with the Cheltenham Gold Cup taking place on the Friday.
Unlike several other flat races in the United Kingdom – such as Royal Ascot – Cheltenham is not renowned for its foreign competitors, although French-bred horses have enjoyed some success there in recent years.
Ruby Walsh has dominated the event over the last four seasons – being hailed as the top jockey since 2008. 2009 was unquestionably his finest hour in the Festival, winning an incredible seven races over the four days.
Other famous jockeys include Tony McCoy, who was at his peak in 1998 when he triumphed five times.
The 2012 Cheltenham Festival is likely to be another exciting week of racing for racing enthusiasts, and many are tipping reigning Irish National Hunt Champion Walsh to excel once again.