Changes to the 2026 Cheltenham Festival

There have been a number of changes made to the Cheltenham Festival down the years and this is no different heading into its latest edition.

A four-day Festival is still a relatively new thing with initial changes in 2005 creating an additional five new races to bolster the race programme. Since then, another four races have been to bring the total up to 28, enough to provide a seven-race card on each day.

We take a look at some of the changes made to the 2026 Festival...

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Field size alterations

There are three races with reduced field sizes at this year's Cheltenham Festival in a bid to increase the competitiveness of the contests.

Previously limited to 26 participants, both the BetMGM Cup and the County Hurdle will now have a maximum capacity of 24 runners.

The only non-handicap events impacted by the changes in the Champion Bumper - the concluding race of Wednesday's action.

Race programme changes

Possibly the headline change to the Cheltenham Festival this year is the news that the Mares' Hurdle will be moved from the Tuesday to the Thursday.

Every year since 2009, the Mares' Hurdle has been ran on Champion Day, however, it will now sit between the Jack Richards Novices' Limited Handicap Chase and the Stayers' Hurdle.

As a consequence, the Festival Plate Handicap Chase will now take place on day one in between the Champion Hurdle and the National Hunt Novices' Handicap Chase.

In addition to the alteration of the race date, the Mares' Hurdle has also been switched from the Old Course to the New Course. This not insignificant change will now mean that the race is now almost one furlong longer than in previous years.

Position of the final hurdle

Another decision undertaken by Cheltenham staff has been to reconfigure the track alignment to position the final hurdle further from the finish.

This means that the Festival will now have its longest run-in for 17 years.

In theory, this could have an impact on the nature of the racing with a longer run-in usually more suited to horses being held up, with more time allowed for them to catch the leaders.