IT was late September 2024 when Jockey Club Racecourses, owners of Cheltenham, announced a number of significant changes to the Festival programme for 2025.

The announcements came following strong criticism from all quarters in the wake of the 2024 Festival. Gripes centred on ticket prices, customer care and - most of all - the fact that the racing itself was watered down, the quality spread too thin, and many of the races uncompetitive.

So did the changes work?

The National Hunt Novice Chase was opened to professional riders and turned into a Grade 2 handicap. It went from seven runners last year to 18 this year and you’d have to say it was a competitive and interesting event.

The Grade 1 Golden Miller (2m 4f) Novice Chase was replaced with another Grade 2 handicap, known as the Jack Richards, and it too produced a big field (19 ran) and a quality winner in Caldwell Potter.

It had been hoped that the above changes would also result in bigger fields for the Arkle and Broadway novice chases but that didn’t happen, not yet anyway. Not many wanted to take on the Mullins-trained odds-on favourites, both of whom were beaten. Let’s give that more time.

The third new handicap this year was the Cross Country Chase, a race which was becoming a bit of a retirement home for former Grade 1 chasers. It attracted 16 runners and, in Stumptown, still produced a serious Grand National candidate.

Odds-on favourites

There were still seven odds-on favourites at the Festival and, even though five of them were beaten, it’s a fair bet that the Jockey Club will be looking to make further tweaks to the racing programme for 2026. Overall the average field size rose from 14 to 16.

As in 2024, the Mares’ Hurdle had a double-figure field, but the winner on both occasions – Lossiemouth – was odds-on. Quevega won it six times (as a Grade 2). It’s very easy to see Lossiemouth winning a third, and who knows after that.

The consensus seems to be that previous winners should not be stopped from running but that it should become a Grade 2, with Grade 1 winners carrying a 7lb penalty. It might not change the result but will make it more interesting.

Overall there were 16 winning trainers this year and plenty of syndicates and a few fairytale wins for relatively inexpensive horses. The surprise results helped the Festival in that you certainly couldn’t say it was all very predictable.

Another change made this year was to move the feature race each day to the later slot of Race 5. I didn’t hear any complaints about it and overall betting turnover seemed to go up, so it looks like they got it right with that one too.

Compared to last year, there were far fewer complaints from racegoers this year. Attendances were down by a shocking 5,000 on both of the first two days but somehow the atmosphere was certainly not lacking. Decent weather probably helped punters’ mood, even if the results mostly did not. Racegoers were allowed to bring their drinks outside and there were little or no reports of trouble in the enclosures.

Ticket prices

Ticket prices have been held at the same level for next year. Speaking to Racing TV last Sunday, Cheltenham chief executive Guy Lavender admitted the issue of value is “critical” to reigniting enthusiasm and increasing crowds.

A total of 218,839 people attended across the four days this year, down on the 2024 figure of just under 230,000, with Wednesday’s Champion Chase card drawing 41,949 racegoers, which represents a low mark in recent years.

Lavender said: “There has been a big debate around price and value at the Festival, which I have recognised, but we have had no increase for this year from last and we won’t have an increase for 2026 either. In fact, there will be a small element of increased value for those that buy in the early bird window.

“We are very mindful of price – tickets are only one component and I think there are other things we need to look at. The value proposition is, for me, critical. We have got to get this right to drive the numbers and enthusiasm for the Festival, but again there’s an optimum (attendance) number, not a maximum number, which I think we should focus on. Then you can deliver the level of customer experience people expect.

“I think there’s opportunities to look at the racing offered at Cheltenham in the round but inevitably there’s a core focus on the Festival, it’s the showpiece of the jumps racing calendar and we have to make sure that’s right.

“I think the process for me now is what are the micro changes we can make – and there are hundreds of those we’ve seen over the four days – and there’s some big macro issues around price, value, accommodation, price of food and beverage, et cetera that we will pick up.”

Customer experience

Lavender is keen for success not to be entirely defined by an overall attendance figure, but also viewed in term of the experience offered to racegoers, which means targeting an “optimum” number of racegoers.

He said: “I think the real issue for me is not to worry too much about the overall numbers, because if you get the experience and the value proposition and price right, the numbers are going to grow.

“We don’t have direct control over where the numbers end up but we do have control over things that make it a great experience.

“We want to see numbers grow, the economics at Cheltenham are very strong, it’s an enormously profitable racecourse, but of course it funds and supports the rest of the Jockey Club Racecourse group, so there’s a balance to be struck.”

The price of local accommodation is another issue Lavender recognises as a “barrier” for potential racegoers, with the need for some data analysis and further discussion with “hoteliers, accommodation providers and the (Cheltenham) Chamber of Commerce” on the to-do list.

Lavender did raise hopes of a reduction in costs in 2026, adding: “I think there will be a natural readjustment to the market next year as I think there was quite a lot of accommodation that we certainly saw came back onto the market quite late, or that didn’t sell.

“I think there will be some market readjustment but it’s a major point on our agenda looking to next year at how we address this issue, it’s just another thing that disincentivises people to come and we have to reduce those barriers wherever we can.”