Cheltenham maintains customer focus with further changes

Cheltenham has not ruled out future tweaks to the Festival race programme, as the racecourse outlined plans to further enhance the customer experience ahead of the new jumps season.

National Hunt racing’s flagship venue introduced a raft of changes designed at improving the experience for visitors at Prestbury Park last season, alterations the course has deemed a success.

There was also an overhaul of the conditions of some longstanding Festival races, such as the National Hunt Chase becoming a handicap available to professional jockeys and both the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase and the novice chase registered as the Golden Miller also run as handicaps.

Explaining the second phase of a multi-million pound project, Cheltenham’s chief executive Guy Lavender said: “Today is all about what we are doing for our racegoers this season and the changes being made to improve their experience and their enjoyment of our events.

“We made a number of changes to the race programme for this year’s Festival and we were really pleased with the results. While we won’t be making any significant changes to the racing itself next March, we are currently still reviewing certain elements and if any tweaks are made we will communicate those as soon as possible.

“We were pleased with the changes which were implemented last season and were generally very well received, both in terms of the race programme and customer experience.

“We said when these changes were announced that this is a process of evolution and not revolution and that we would sit down at the end of the season to look at where we can continue to make improvements.”

Changes visible for racegoers during the 2025-26 season will include a removal of all remaining drinks restrictions in the Club Enclosure and a 30p reduction in the price of pints of draught beers and cider, including Guinness, from £7.80 to £7.50.

The overall capacity at the 2026 Festival will be reduced from 68,500 to 66,000 each day following a review of customer feedback, while the Wednesday will see the official return of a Ladies Day for the first time since 2019, with the focus on growing the number of female racegoers.

There will also be a new undercover food court available in the tented village, as well as further refurbishments to two of the bars in the main grandstand, while “additional discount windows” have been introduced allowing racegoers to buy tickets at a reduced cost for longer.

Lavender, who took up his post at the start of this year after fulfilling a similar role with the Marylebone Cricket Club, is keen to take positives from his first Cheltenham Festival as he looks ahead to the future.

He added: “We were always very clear that the success of the 2025 Festival would not be determined by attendance, but by the experience we provided for our racegoers.

“We received some incredibly positive feedback from this year’s event which demonstrated that the changes we had made had worked and we are hugely encouraged by the ticket sales we have seen for next year’s Festival already.

“I have a clear view that the future should be built around a commitment to delivering world class racing at a world class venue and ensuring the Festival remains one of the standout events in the British sporting calendar.

“Cheltenham is the jewel in the crown of jump racing, and we want racegoers to feel they are stepping into somewhere truly special from the moment that they arrive. That is why over the coming seasons we’ll explore everything from racecourse layout, our enclosure structure and membership offerings, to hospitality and food and beverage options.

“The changes announced today mark another meaningful step forward, but it is always important to listen to your customers and evolve, and I can guarantee that there will be further changes for 2027.”