2025 Cheltenham Festival News - New schedule and race time changes

Jon Vine

Editor

Last updated: 10 Jan 2025

Jon Vine 10 Jan 2025

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2025 Cheltenham Festival schedule includes new races and revised times
The first race will take place at 1:20pm each day
The four Championship races have been moved back to slot five at 4:00pm

Spectators fill the stands as runners and riders compete in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle horse race on the first day of the Cheltenham Festival. (Getty)

Here's the full schedule for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, including altered race times and new races.

At the start of the National Hunt season, the BHA announced major changes to the Cheltenham Festival. These alterations included new races, changes to qualification criteria, and new time slots for the feature contests.

The official schedule for "The Greatest Show on Turf" was announced this week. Here are the new race cards for 2025.

2025 Cheltenham Festival Schedule

Cheltenham Day 1 Card

Time	Tuesday Races	Status	Distance
13:20	Supreme Novices' Hurdle	Grade One	2m
14:00	Arkle Challenge Trophy	Grade One	2m
14:40	Ultima Handicap Chase	Grade Three Handicap	3m
15:20	Mares' Hurdle	Grade One	2m 4f
16:00	Champion Hurdle	Grade One	2m
16:40	Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle	Grade Three Handicap	2m
17:20	National Hunt Chase	Grade Two Handicap	3m 6f

To get more races on terrestrial television, the four Championship races have been moved back to the fifth time slot on each day of the Cheltenham Festival.

The 2025 Champion Hurdle will now be run at 4:00pm, with the Mares' Hurdle moving up to the fourth slot on day one. The National Hunt Chase reverts back to being a 0-145 novices' handicap and professional riders are now allowed to take part.

Cheltenham Day 2 Card

Time	Wednesday Races	Status	Distance
13:20	Turners Novices' Hurdle	Grade One	2m 5f
14:00	Brown Advisory Novices' Chase	Grade One	3m
14:40	Coral Cup	Grade Three Handicap	2m 5f
15:20	Cross Country Chase	Class Two Handicap	3m 6f
16:00	Champion Chase	Grade One	2m
16:40	Grand Annual Chase	Grade Three Handicap	2m
17:20	Champion Bumper	Grade One	2m

Much like day one, there have only been minor adjustments to the Ladies' Day schedule. The Cross Country Chase will now take place before the 2025 Queen Mother Champion Chase, which has been pushed back to slot five.

Apart from the Baring Bingham now being run as the Turners Novices' Hurdle, the other day two races remain the same.

Cheltenham Day 3 Card

Time	Thursday Races	Status	Distance
13:20	Mares Novices' Hurdle	Grade Two	2m 1f
14:00	Jack Richards Novices' Handicap Chase	Grade Two Handicap	2m 4f
14:40	Pertemps Final	Listed Handicap	3m
15:20	Ryanair Chase	Grade One	2m 4f
16:00	Stayers' Hurdle	Grade One	3m
16:40	Paddy Power Plate	Grade Three Handicap	2m 4f
17:20	Kim Muir Challenge Cup	Class Two Handicap	3m 2f

The biggest Cheltenham Festival changes come on day three. The 2025 Stayers' Hurdle has been moved back to the 4:00pm slot, with the co-main event on St Patrick's Day, the Ryanair Chase now taking place at 3:20pm.

The Mares' Novices' Hurdle, which had been the penultimate race on day three, now opens Thursday's card. The second race is the Jack Richards Novices' Handicap Chase, which has replaced the Grade One 2m5f Novices' Chase on the Cheltenham Festival schedule. Being a Grade Two contest, the Jack Richards is likely to be a Limited Handicap, unlike the other 0-145 handicaps.

Cheltenham Day 4 Card

Time	Friday Races (Day 4)	Status	Distance
13:20	Triumph Hurdle	Grade One	2m
14:00	County Hurdle	Grade Three Handicap	2m
14:40	Mares' Chase	Grade Two	2m 4f
15:20	Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle	Grade One	3m
16:00	Cheltenham Gold Cup	Grade One	3m 2f
16:40	St James's Place Hunter Chase	Class Two	3m 2f
17:20	Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle	Class Two Handicap	2m 4f

The 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup will be run at 4:00pm on Friday, March 14th. The Grade Two Mares' Chase has been moved from the penultimate slot up to third on the day four schedule.

The Triumph Hurdle gets Gold Cup day off to a flying start at 1:20pm. The Hunter Chase will still take place after the Gold Cup, before the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle brings the festivities to an end.

ITV Racing will now show the first six races live on all four days of the Cheltenham Festival, with their afternoon coverage beginning at 5:00 p.m.