Cheltenham

Cheltenham is the spiritual home of National Hunt racing, set beneath the Cotswold escarpment at Prestbury Park. For four days every March, it hosts the Cheltenham Festival - the single biggest week on the jumps calendar, where the best chasers and hurdlers in Britain and Ireland meet head-on.

The track

Cheltenham runs two courses side by side - the New Course and the Old Course - both left-handed, undulating, with a stiff uphill finish that tests stamina as much as speed. That final climb is the defining feature: horses that look beaten turning for home can still find plenty up the hill, which is why Cheltenham form can look so different from anywhere else.

The Festival

Held annually in March, the Cheltenham Festival is four days and 28 races, headlined by the Gold Cup on the Friday - the race every top staying chaser is trained for all season. The Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, and Stayers' Hurdle each headline their own day, and the Festival draws the strongest Irish challenge of any meeting on the British jumps calendar, making the Anglo-Irish rivalry a huge part of the week's storyline.

Betting angle

Cheltenham's uphill finish rewards proven stamina and course form more than almost anywhere else - a horse that's won there before is always worth extra respect. Irish-trained runners have dominated the Festival in recent years, so trainer form matters as much as the horse's own.