Cheltenham plans for November meeting boost with 70,000 attendance target set for 2026

Cheltenham has set itself a target of attracting 10,000 more spectators over the three days of its November meeting as it looks to develop its biggest fixture outside the festival in March.

Racecourse boss Ian Renton, who leaves his role as director at Cheltenham to oversee all of the Jockey Club tracks in the new year, revealed the track had a target of 70,000 for the November meeting in 2026.

Close to 50,000 attended on the Friday and Saturday, with around 11,000 present for Sunday's card, figures broadly in line with the 59,505 over last year's three days.

The track is exploring keeping up some of its temporary facilities situated near the Guinness Village, usually saved for the festival in March, for the meeting.

The fixture is the track's biggest outside the festival and, according to attendance data provided by the Levy Board, last attracted 70,000 in 2018. That was, however, using an old model to collect crowd figures, which automatically included all annual members as attendees each day. 

Renton said: "The November meeting is already one of the great occasions during the autumn season. We'd like to get our crowd up to 70,000 and we'd allow three years to build it up and extend the facilities to allow that capacity if we can increase the numbers. 

"Increasingly, we're seeing more Irish racegoers coming to our meetings, starting from the Showcase in October. There's a much bigger Irish presence at this meeting. Hopefully, we can achieve those numbers within three years."

Renton revealed the Jockey Club would commence the interview process for its new director in the coming weeks after receiving a healthy number of applications for the role. It is hoped an appointment can be made before the festival.

Renton said: "We've had all our applicants in, we've got some great external and internal applicants, and we'll start the interview process in the next few weeks. I'd like to appoint someone before the festival and see somebody starting properly between April and October. 

Ian Renton: has been boss at Cheltenham for 11 yearsCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

"We've got a fantastic team here at Cheltenham and in the executive team at the Jockey Club that can fill any gaps that any person coming in may have. We'll want someone to come in with new ideas and do the job better than me.

"It's time to bring a director into Cheltenham as it's such a big job. To have someone able to devote 100 per cent of their time to Cheltenham is probably the right way forward."

Cheltenham used the November meeting to promote the affordability checks petition, with a QR code linking to the government website in the racecard on all the three days, and on the big screens. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 86,000 people have signed the petition, started by Jockey Club CEO Nevin Truesdale.

Renton, who also used the meeting to advertise Safer Gambling Week, said: "We do feel there's a better way to go than the affordability checks that have been suggested."

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