Cheltenham Festival ticket sales hit record high in welcome return for public

General admission tickets for Cheltenham Gold Cup day sold out before the end of January for the first time after record demand, the Jockey Club announced on Tuesday.

Overall demand for general admission at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival is up 37 per cent compared to 2019, with only hospitality packages left for Gold Cup day on March 18.

The 2020 meeting was the last festival open to the general public, with all British racing suspended from the following week until June 1 that year.

Last year's festival was held behind closed doors but full crowds are now welcome back across all British racecourses.

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The Grand National meeting in April is also having a surge in demand, with ticket sales up 19 per cent compared to 2019 – the last Grand National to be open to the general public.

Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale said: "We still have tickets available for the first three days of the Cheltenham Festival and for all three days of the Randox Grand National festival, but I can't stress enough how popular they are proving.

Aintree: ticket sales are soaring for the first Grand National open to the public since 2019Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"We know that the past two years have been a time of real uncertainty for everyone, so it's fantastic to see people's eagerness to get back to our racecourses and their confidence to book tickets for our events months in advance returning."

The Jockey Club also announced a general increase in ticket sales across its 14 courses compared to the pre-pandemic period of 2019, with general admission sales up seven per cent from August 1 to the end of 2021.

Truesdale added: "As an organisation which reinvests all its profits back into the sport under our royal charter commitment, this news is not only a huge boost to the Jockey Club, it's massive for horseracing as an industry."

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