Cheltenham 2009

Welcome to the Cheltenham 2009 home page.

The 2008 Cheltenham Festival must have been the most memorable in living memory. With a combination of nature and some superb equine performances making it even more special than usual.

The high winds forced the abandonment of day two of the festival, giving ten and nine race cards on the remaining two days.

On the equine front the great Kauto Star / Demnam match turned out to be something of a one sided affair. Mater Minded put in the most spell binding performance to take the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Inglis Drever winning his third Word Hurdle bought tears to the eyes of grown men.

How on earth can Cheltenham 2009 live up to that?

Well you know racing is a funny game and 2009 may not be as dramatic but it still offers some mouth watering attractions.

Master Minded is on track to return the shortest price Cheltenham Festival contender since Arkle as he prepares to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase again and looking at his performances so far this year it would take a brave man or a fool to oppose him.

We have the prospect of Kauto Star / Denman part two, with a big question mark hanging over Denman following a heart scare.

Whilst the Champion Hurdle looks to be a one horse race if the betting is to be believed, the World Hurdle looks a very interesting renewal with the up and coming Punchestowns and the will he, won’t he, question marks surrounding Inglis Drever's participation.

Add to that future stars emerging, none more so than Karabak who put in the performance of the season at Ascot on the way to a possible run in the Ballymore Hurdle.

This site will bring you the latest Festival news, including live updates from Cheltenham’s Festival Trials Day on 24th January.

Over the coming weeks we will be adding previews for all the contests, beginning with the Championship races then, as plans become clearer, the remaining contests.

This years Festival also sees an earlier start time each day, now 1:30 and there is an additional race on the Friday, a conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle.

The feature race will now be the fourth race on each of the days with a start time of 3:20, five minutes earlier than traditionally.

To navigate around the Cheltenham site please use the menu on the left of this page.