Sporting Life
Action from Cheltenham on Trials Day
Cheltenham - final three racedays cancelled

Cheltenham cancel final three racedays of season for drainage system upgrade

By Sporting Life
Horse Racing
Mon March 30, 2026 · 3h ago

Cheltenham have cancelled their final three racedays of the season to allow for an upgrade of the drainage systems on the home straight.

The two-day April Meeting, scheduled for Wednesday April 15 and Thursday April 16, along with Race Night, featuring an all-Hunter Chase card planned for Friday May 1, will now no longer take place at the track.

Officials say cancelling the fixtures will allow work on a significant part of the home straight to begin immediately and give the racing surface time to recover for the start of the 2026-27 season.

The decision follows consultation between the racecourse’s grounds team, drainage contractors and agronomists, all of whom agreed the course would benefit from work being carried out while there was still moisture in the ground to aid recovery and to minimise any potential impact on the start of next season at the home of jump racing.

Jon Pullin, Cheltenham’s Head of Racing and Clerk of the Course, said: “Our priority is always to provide the best possible racing surface for top-class jump racing. Throughout the very wet winter, we have experienced a number of issues on the track and working with drainage experts, we have identified an area that would benefit from being upgraded.

“This will allow us to address the issues that we believe contributed to the hole appearing on Festival Trials Day and subsequently created challenges in other areas of the track. As a result of this we moved rail and hurdle positions to ensure we were providing the best surface for both the Old and New courses.

"While some sections of drains across the track are newer than others and drainage improvements like this are typically carried out at the end of each season, given the scale of this project and the last two particularly dry summers we have decided to bring this work forward. This will mean that there is still sufficient moisture in the ground allowing more time for the course to recover ahead of next season.”

Ahead of the Cheltenham Festival taking place earlier this month, a ground penetrating radar survey of the track was conducted as well as a number of other precautionary checks to ensure that safe jumping ground was provided over the four days.

While The April Meeting will not be staged at an alternative venue, The Jockey Club - working in conjunction with the BHA – has rescheduled four key races at the following fixtures, with prize money remaining unaltered:

  • Mares Novices Handicap Chase (Class 1, Premier Handicap) will take place at Market Rasen on April 14.
  • Challenger Mares’ Chase Series Final Handicap Chase (Class 2) (GBB Race) and the Challenger Mares’ Hurdle Series Final Handicap Hurdle Race (Class 2) (GBB Race) will be rescheduled to take place at Warwick on April 23.
  • Fillies' Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (Class 1, Premier Handicap) will be run as part of the Jump Finale card at Sandown Park on April 25.
  • Cheltenham’s Race Night fixture will now be staged at Warwick Racecourse on the same date - Friday May 1 2026 - with all seven races being transferred.

Pullin added: “We did look at contingency plans that might allow us to prioritise this work while also staging our April and May fixtures but unfortunately it is not feasible to continue racing. However, we are grateful to the BHA for their support in helping us move Race Night to Warwick and to stage four races from the April Meeting elsewhere.

“Although it is disappointing not to stage our final three racedays of the season, we are confident this is the right decision to give the course the opportunity to be in optimal condition for the start of the 2026-27 season in October."

All general admission ticket holders for the affected Cheltenham racedays will be automatically refunded, while the racecourse team will be in touch directly with hospitality bookers. Cheltenham Racecourse members and annual boxholders will be contacted directly about their compensation and additional reciprocals.

Guy Lavender, Chief Executive of Cheltenham Racecourse, said: “Cheltenham is the home of jump racing and our focus will always be on providing the best facilities, on and off the track, which is why we are investing in this work.

“This was a decision that we gave a great deal of consideration to and, while we appreciate that racegoers will share in our disappointment at not being able to stage our last three fixtures of the season, it is vital to give the racing surface time to recover and allow our grounds team to prepare the track for October and next season’s jumps programme."

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