Cheltenham Festival

Cheltenham Festival was not held between 1941 and 1945 because of World War II and in 2001 due to the foot-and-mouth disease crisis.

The Cheltenham Festival originated in 1860 when the National Hunt Chase was first held at Market Harborough.

It was initially titled the Grand National Hunt Meeting and took place at several locations since its institution, at the turn of the 20th century it was mostly held at Warwick Racecourse.

From 1906 to 1910 it was again held at Warwick but further additions and major improvements made at Cheltenham by Messrs. Pratt and Company, including a new stand (the fourth one), miles of drain to prevent unsuitable racing ground, tar paving in the enclosures and the paddock extended to 35 saddling boxes, proved enough to make the National Hunt Committee decide that the 1911 meeting was to return at Prestbury Park, Cheltenham where it remained to the present day.

Unlike Royal Ascot and many other top flat racing events in Great Britain and Ireland, the Cheltenham Festival does not have a history of attracting many international contenders, though French-trained horses have done well.

[8] On 17 March 1987, 21-year-old Gee Armytage won the Kim Muir Challenge Cup, back then held on Tuesdays and backed it with another victory the next day in the Mildmay of Flete Challenge Cup on a horse aptly named Gee-A, becoming the first female jockey to win a race against professionals at the Festival..[9] In 2001 the Festival was cancelled due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain.

The meeting had initially been postponed to April, but when a case of the disease was confirmed locally, putting the racecourse within an exclusion zone, all racing had to be called off.

In response the racecourse decreased the number of runners in certain races and re-sited one of the more difficult fences.

On the opening day of the 2012 festival, three horses were euthanised after suffering bone fractures or breaks, including two during the Cross-Country Chase, becoming the second and third equine fatalities in that race since 2000.

[25][26] The number and type of races at the Cheltenham Festival has changed dramatically over the years of its existence.