Cheltenham pulls plug on rest of season to fix home-straight drainage issues

The next racing at the famous venue will be in October after work is done around a sinkhole that appeared in January

If you were planning a day at Cheltenham before the end of the jumps campaign, think again. The home of National Hunt racing said on Monday it will not stage another fixture until autumn, having taken the unprecedented decision to cancel its three remaining meetings in order to start major drainage works on the home straight over the summer months.

The two-day meeting scheduled for 15-16 April and the track’s traditional season finale, a hunter-chase fixture and concert on 1 May, attracted a combined total of nearly 25k spectators in 2025. That is a long way short of the 56k daily average at the festival this month, but will still represent a significant loss in ticket sales and race day revenue from food, drinks and betting.