The 2026 Cheltenham Festival took place between Tuesday, March 10 and Friday, March 13 and took its customary form, with 28 races staged over the four days. All five feature races of the week went the way of Irish-trained horses, Willie Mullins winning the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup with Lossiemouth, Il Etait Temps and Gaelic Warrior, respectively, Joseph Patrick O'Brien the Stayers' Hurdle with Home By The Lee and Henry De Bromhead the Ryanair Chase with Heart Wood. Overall, though, the Prestbury Cup went down to the wire, with Ireland eventually winning 15-13 after Air Of Entitlement, another trained by De Bromhead, took the closing Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle under Patrick O'Brien.
All told, six outright or joint-favourites won at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival but, even so, the average starting price of all 28 winners was the highest it has been for a decade, at 14/1. Martator, trained by Venetia Williams and ridden by Charlie Deutsch, produced the biggest shock of the week when winning the Grand Annual Chase at 66/1 on Ladies' Day, but was followed by White Noise (40/1) in the Dawn Run Mares' Novices' Hurdle and Home By The Lee (33/1) in the Stayers' Hurdle, both on St. Patrick's Thursday, and Apolon De Charnie (50/1) in the opening Triumph Hurdle on Gold Cup Day.
Rather more predictably, Willie Mullins won the leading trainer award for the eighth year running and the thirteenth time in all, with eight winners, and his stable jockey, Paul Townend, won the leading jockey award for the fifth year running and the sixth time in all, with four winners. Aside from their three feature race winners, the pair also combined for King Rasko Grey in the Turners Novices' Hurdle, while Mullins also saddled Kargese, ridden by his nephew, Danny, in the Arkle Challenge Trophy, Kitzbuhel, ridden by Harry Cobden, in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, the aforementioned Apolon De Charnie, ridden by his son Patrick, and Dino Blue, ridden by Mark Walsh, in the Liberthine Mares' Chase. His career tally currently stands at an eye-watering 121 Cheltenham Festival winners.
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