Anticipation is building ahead of the beginning of the 2026/27 UK Jumps season.
For the last five months or so, the majority of racing fans have had their eyes firmly fixated on high-class action on the Flat. Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and the York Ebor Festival have all come and gone on British shores, meaning the Winter months are rapidly approaching.
Although British Champions Day is still yet to come, attentions will begin to turn to the Jumps.
When does the 2026/27 UK Jumps season start?
Technically, the National Hunt season commenced on Saturday 2nd May 2026 and leads all the way up until its conclusion on Saturday 24th April 2027.
However, fans of the sports recognise Chepstow's three-day Welsh Racing Festival as the unofficial starting point for the real meat of the jumping campaign.
It begins on Friday 9th October and carries through until Sunday 11th October, staging the first Graded race of the UK season, the Persian War Novices' Hurdle, on its opening day. As well as the Grade 2 event, other highlights include the Welsh Champion Hurdle and the traditionally ultra-competitive Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle.
In a quirk of the calendar, British Champions Day will then take place at Ascot, serving as Flat fans' last hurrah before the Cheltenham October Meeting really does usher in wall-to-wall jumping up all the way up until late April.
