It’s that old chestnut again, the Cheltenham Festival switching dates to incorporate a Saturday. But this time, unfortunately for those who want it to stay the same, it’s backed up with data to suggest the move would be a positive.
Cheltenham’s New Year’s Day attendance figures, to be precise. The course had record numbers through the gates, with 44,151 people attending for the day’s action.
This beat the previous best by some way, which was 38,374, and was set three years ago in 2023.
Cheltenham Sell Out on New Year’s Day
The meeting was classed as a sell-out, despite Cheltenham having more people inside for the festival, because of the track layout.
During the Festival, additional stands are built, more hospitality areas are opened, and more restaurants are open, so the capacity is bigger. But for the track’s layout on New Year’s Day, you couldn’t get any more people inside.
There was also a lot of talk about the number of children at the meeting, which was over 5000, a massive number of potential racing fans of the future, some experienced in the sport, but I’m sure some were getting their first-ever glimpse at racing.
New Year’s Day Sold Out! 🙌
We’re delighted to announce that for the first time ever, New Year’s Day at Cheltenham Racecourse has sold out, with more than 40,000 people in attendance.
Thank you for joining us, we wish you a Happy New Year. pic.twitter.com/gRFJ6uRlb1
— CheltenhamRacecourse (@CheltenhamRaces) January 1, 2026
Overall, figures across Christmas and the New Year at racecourses were very strong. Cheltenham wasn’t a one off success. The message has to be a clear and simple one. When people are off work and looking for something to do, there’s plenty out there that want to go racing, whether that’s long-time fans, social followers or newcomers.
Over the past few months, I think racing has been as negative as I’ve ever known it. Betting tax, levy struggles, media rights, too much racing, walkovers and small fields, plus plenty more, there’s been a lot to talk about, in a bad way.
So let’s start the new year with something positive, and these crowds have certainly given us that.
How Does This Impact the Festival?
As I wrote in the title, I think the attendance we saw on New Year’s Day greatly increases the chances of the Cheltenham Festival switching to incorporate a Saturday.
I know some are very against this, and in terms of the sport being the only significant interest on its four days, you’re correct. But in terms of people through the gates, based on the New Year’s Day figures, Cheltenham would have to be confident of increasing the number of people through the gates with a switch.
In 2025, Cheltenham saw an attendance of 41,949 people for the Wednesday of the Cheltenham Festival—more than that paid for a good but nothing special card on New Year’s Day.
Yes, the Festival would bring a higher price point, and there are kids to think about. As mentioned, over 5,000 kids attended the meeting on New Year’s Day, all for free, but the Festival requires everyone over 5 to have a ticket, and 5–18-year-olds are charged half price, which is still a lot of money.
But despite that, I’m still confident that a Saturday would comfortably bring more people through the gates than the 41,000 we saw for Wednesday last year, even if it was just the Wednesday card directly switching, with other races remaining on their dedicated days, and running Wednesday to Saturday.
Day one would still be the Champion Hurdle, and drawing the numbers that does, day two would be St Patrick’s Thursday, always well attended, and day three would be the Gold Cup, which is the highest attended day. Throw in 50,000+ for the Saturday, and all of a sudden, there’s potentially 10,000 more people attending the Cheltenham Festival than this year.
Personally, I don’t want the festival to switch over, I’d rather it stayed in its traditional midweek slot. But I appreciate I’m fortunate enough to be able to watch from home, or attend, regardless of what day it is, work permitting.
Some others aren’t as fortunate, and that doesn’t even mention the switch to put one day outside of school hours. So, I can see why there’s a push, and those 10,000 attendees paying to get in certainly make it appealing to the Jockey Club, which wants to bring more money into the sport.
You may not like it, but I think New Year’s Day took us a step closer to this all becoming a reality, and in some form, the Cheltenham Festival moving to incorporate a Saturday as part of the four days.