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Cheltenham Festival

St Patrick's Thursday


Thursday 13 March 2025

Irish passion raises the rafters and the battle for the Prestbury Cup heightens.

Where Irish passion for the sport and the Cheltenham Festival raises the rafters and the craic is mighty. The Cheltenham Festival is a second home to the Irish and St Patrick’s Thursday reflects this both on and off the track. Featuring The Ryanair Chase and Paddy Power Stayer’s Hurdle, where endurance and stamina reign. It’s the tough versus the tough and provides the most thrilling battles.


For celebrations like no other and racing to match

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In 2024 St Patrick’s Thursday wasn’t about the Irish after all. After the first two days of Cheltenham Festival were dominated by Irish-trained horses, today the tables turned - the first six horses in the Pertemps were British and British horses won a total of five of the seven races today, taking the Prestbury Cup standings to 8 British wins vs 12 for Ireland.

Football legend and owner Sir Alex Ferguson was the successful owner of two Cheltenham Festival winners today with Monmiral winning the Pertemps Network Final before Portekorat went on to win the one of today's Feature Races - The Ryanair Steeple Chase then Ferguson said: “Two in 40 minutes! It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? It’s a special place.”

Sir Alex wasn’t the only football icon to score at the Festival today, as fellow former Premier League Manager Harry Rednapp’s winner Shakem Up ‘arry was victorious in the Trustatrader Plate Handicap Steeple Chase.

Fan favourite Paisley Park concluded his sixth appearance in the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle, marking the end of an illustrious career guided by trainer Emma Lavelle and owner Andrew Gemmell. His remarkable journey encompassed four Grade 1 victories, a memorable Stayers' Hurdle triumph, and numerous thrilling finishes. Despite securing victory in 11 of his 31 races and amassing £729,426 in prize-money, Paisley Park finished tenth behind Teahupoo in Thursday's Grade 1, prompting his connections to make the heartfelt decision to retire him and honor his well-deserved rest. Wishing him all the best in his retirement.

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What's new for 2025

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We’ve listened to your feedback and invested in a number of key enhancements to improve the overall Customer Experience at The Festival across the areas that matter to you most.

Our goal is to ensure that your visit to the Cheltenham Festival not only meets, but exceeds your expectations; because at its best, nothing feels like Cheltenham.

There are three main areas of practical changes, designed to improve every stage of your time with us.

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Plan your day

Enclosures

We have three enclosures at The Cheltenham Festival and the type of ticket you buy will grant you access to different areas.

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Plan Your Day

Plan your visit to Cheltenham Festival, from the Shopping Village, to live music, to discounts on group bookings. 

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Travel & Parking

We want to ensure that getting to Cheltenham Racecourse is made as easy as possible. Book your coach journey with National Express or your plan your bus journey from Cheltenham Spa station.

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Live Entertainment

There will be live entertainment before, during and after racing in all three enclosures across all four days of the Cheltenham Festival.

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Cheltenham Festival Style

Although there isn't an official dress code for The Cheltenham Festival, smart is preferable and often adopted. We advise you to check the forecast and dress accordingly to make your day with us as extraordinary as possible.

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The Shopping Village

The shopping experience at The Cheltenham Festival offers an ideal shopping opportunity with plenty of shops ready to sell a diverse range of goods with something to suit every taste and budget.

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Other days of Cheltenham Festival


Merchandise

Cheltenham Racecourse is one of the most popular sporting venues in the country, welcoming over 400,000 racegoers a year. It is a pilgrimage for racing fans from across the world. We operate a gift shop on every race day, so you can take away a special memory of your visit. It is our pleasure to now offer you some of our favourite items for online purchase.

Festival FAQs

Our postcode is GL50 4SH for use with GPS equipment. However on a raceday customers are strongly advised to follow the yellow, temporary signs when entering Cheltenham and the local area and not the brown permanent signs.

 

Please check the event schedule for the most up to date timings.

 

Please note that these times are subject to change.

All racegoers intending to park on-site during Cheltenham Festival will require a car parking pass. The parking passes are no longer available to purchase online.

There is no set dress code for Cheltenham Festival but we ask customers to dress for the weather, take some inspiration from our Style Guide on our dress code page.

 

Cookie Policy

We use “cookies” to help enhance your experience and improve the functionality of our website. You can find out more in our cookie policy. We also serve cookies, some with chocolate chips, on our racecourses.

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