CHELTENHAM, ENGLAND - MARCH 08: Runners make their way down the horse walk to the gallops at Cheltenham Racecourse on March 08, 2026 in Cheltenham, England. (Photo by Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images)
One of the best-known facts about the Cheltenham Festival is that 265,000 pints of Guinness were consumed by racegoers at the four-day event in 2025.
The annual Guinness tally is quoted a lot by journalists to indicate the party atmosphere whipped up at one of Europe’s biggest sporting occasions.
Boisterous, noisy daily crowds of more than 50,000 will converge on England’s midlands again this week for the pinnacle event of National Hunt (jumps) racing – and more Guinness pints (not to mention quantities other beverages) than ever are likely to be quaffed.
The sometimes-judgy Guardian once wrote of the festival: “The stands are full of drunks, though it is not easy to see how they got that way, since it is virtually impossible to reach the bars… By the fifth race each day, the place stinks of fried onions and puke. The idea of Cheltenham is glorious; the reality is always vile.”
This killjoy attitude isn’t common among racing fans and fun seekers – as shown by bookings for the 2026 festival that are well ahead of expectations.
Over four days in 2026 – from Tuesday 10 March to Friday the 13th, Cheltenham racecourse will welcome up to 250,000 patrons to enjoy vile reality in a picturesque vale in the Chiltern Hills.
Last year the aggregate attendance was 218,839 – 11,000 down on 2024. The number of pints of Guinness purchased went up by 45,000. A smaller crowd sank more booze.
These stats were just for Guinness. The Cheltenham beer tents also serve cider, lager and non-alcohol drinks but sales of these options are not disclosed. Bookmaking firm William Hill was intrigued enough by the subject to look deeper into booze-betting synergies.
“Just as we can combine the odds and run the numbers for you with our useful racing bet builder, we’re going to run some beer maths to try to estimate how much will be drunk at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival,” it declares on its website.
“Assuming an increase on the first three days by a few thousand and a sellout on Friday of 66,000, we could take a punt on there being around 225,000 going to the 2026 Cheltenham Festival,” William Hill continues.
“In 2025, 218,839 fans sunk 265,000 pints. That averages 1.21 pints per person. Using those … statistics, we estimate 270,000 pints of Guinness will be drunk at the 2026 festival.”
The bookie’s investigation uncovered that the racecourse has cut its Guinness price by 30p for 2026, making it just £7.50 per pint (R168.42). It predicts “the Black Stuff” will be a best seller again this year, given that a lager costs £7.80 and a good proportion of the crowd will be visitors from Ireland, another country that worships jumps racing.
Along with the price cut, a big boost to the Cheltenham atmosphere will be fans being allowed to take drinks around the course. Pints outside beer tents has been trialed at other UK venues and “helped to spur more action in the betting ring” notes William Hill approvingly.
Whether drinking or not, punters will be focused on finding winners of the 28 races (seven a day, including plenty of Grade 1 contests).
The Irish Mirror asked AI to name the best bets at the meeting and came up with:
Champion Hurdle (Day 1): The New Lion, a joint 9-4 favourite with Lossiemouth from the stable of top jumps trainer Willie Mullins, who surprisingly opted for this race for his popular star at the last moment.
Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (Day 1): Old Park Star, who has course experience and can get punters off to a flying festival start.
Arkle Novices’ Chase (Day 1): Lulamba.
Ryanair Chase (Day 3): Fact To File, a very strong favourite.
Gold Cup (Day 4): Jango Baie, a high-class chaser with strong recent performances.
The greatest jumps jockey, Tony McCoy, now retired, asked which horse he’d most want to ride at the festival if given the choice, didn’t hesitate: “I’d pick Majborough in the Queen Mother Champion Chase (Day 2).”
Many tipsters agree, making Majborough their Cheltenham banker. Another popular choice is Bambino Fever in the Ryanair Novices’ Hurdle on Day 3.
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