Cheltenham consulting on five-day festival - and it could come as early as 2024

The Jockey Club has taken the first official step towards extending the Cheltenham Festival to five days with an in-depth consultation process under way – and any change could be implemented as early as 2024.

Ian Renton, managing director at Cheltenham, told the Racing Post the course was seeking an insight from leading owners and trainers to gain a "rational view" as to whether to extend jump racing's biggest fixture.

The world-famous event, which runs from Tuesday to Friday in mid-March, attracted over 280,000 spectators this year and is the Jockey Club's biggest source of income.

Comment: Jockey Club must beware danger of strangling the golden goose (£)

Cheltenham has a timetable in place for the process and Renton hopes a final decision on an additional day would be made in the autumn, with the consultation process to include surveying opinions from a variety of participants through the next few months with assurance that "everyone would be listened to".

If a fifth day is desired, it could come as early as 2024 which would coincide with the centenary year of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the iconic race of the festival.

Renton said: "There's always been a lot of speculation about a fifth day over the last few years – it comes up around the festival every year. We recognise the increasing speculation and we should go out and ask people their views on it. We have started that process and we're asking a number of people for their thoughts.

"We'll continue that over the next few months to get people's opinions so we can take a much more rational view on how people feel and what might arise from whether it's a good or a bad thing. We want to listen to everyone's views and we're not going to make any decision lightly.

"At the moment we started particularly with the owners and trainers and I think we'll expand that into a broader survey which might encompass the ROA or our annual members. Everyone has an opinion and will be listened to."

Ian Renton: 'We want to listen to everyone's views and we're not going to make any decision lightly'Credit: Harry Trump (Getty Images)

Renton said it was "too early to say" what the current general consensus was, but a number of leading jumps trainers have expressed support for the idea in the press.

Nicky Henderson, the second winningmost trainer at the meeting, could offer no negatives when asked before the festival this year, while Philip Hobbs has previously said he was "keen" on the idea.

Yet a fifth-day causes some concern with field sizes already worryingly low. The 2022 Cheltenham Festival featured 405 runners, the lowest bar the pandemic year since the fixture was extended from three to four days in 2005. The average number of runners per race has fallen from 19.5 to 14.5 in this period.

Renton added: "We've always said if there was any change the earliest that could be is 2024, if we were looking at that for a potential year of any change. We'd make a decision well before the 2023 Cheltenham Festival, and I'd like to think a decision could be made as of this autumn as to 2024 and we'll see what the views say."

This season's Cheltenham Festival was hailed a success by Renton, in particular the feel-good atmosphere on course with crowds returning to the meeting for the first time since 2020. The fundraising drive for the Red Cross's Ukraine appeal was also praised and is estimated to have raised well over six figures.

The Jockey Club's formal review of the 2022 meeting will commence next week with maximum capacity one key area likely to be addressed. Over 73,000 racegoers were in attendance for St Patrick's Day Thursday and Gold Cup Friday, but Renton
described this as a "stretch", suggesting numbers could be reduced for 2023.

"In essence we like to be incredibly self-critical and yes, people have had a fantastic time here, but we look at those that didn't and how we can improve any area – no matter how small they are," he reflected.

"At the moment some of the criticism was the queues for the toilets and bars and we'll look at what we can do there. We'll look at whether to reduce the maximum attendance on Gold Cup day and all those things will be discussed over the next few months.

Price of a pint was a hot talking point at the 2022 Cheltenham FestivalCredit: Mike Hewitt (Getty Images)

"I felt, Thursday and Friday, we were at our maximum capacity which does stretch our infrastructure to the limit. I think we've got to accept that we should look at an attendance that can cope with whatever the weather throws at us."

Increased prices of Guinness, at £7 a pint, and early-bird tickets for next year received criticism, but Renton defended the rises as being reflective of additional supply costs across Britain.

He responded: "We've tried to hold ticket prices for a very long time, but our costs have gone up significantly from 2019 to now. We feel this is important to provide the facilities and that we can slightly protect our margins so there has been a small increase.

"[With] the £7 pint of Guinness I think now we've recognised the costs have gone up, and if you go to many sports grounds you'll find similar pricing."

More on this story:

A five-day Cheltenham Festival? Nicky Henderson 'can't see a reason why not'

'They are diluting it more and more' - Carl Llewellyn against five-day festival

Find out what a five-day Cheltenham Festival could look like

There's no need to fear a fifth day of fab Cheltenham Festival

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