ITV Racing makes announcement which will thrill armchair Cheltenham Festival fans

The network has agreed to broadcast an extra race on each day of the four day jumping extravaganza while the feature race will be run at 4pm each day

Punters who follow the Cheltenham Festival from the comfort of their armchairs have got even more to look forward to in March next year.

Cheltenham racecourse, the home of jumping, opened for the first time in the 2024-25 season on Friday for the two-day Showcase fixture.

The best action from both days was being shown live by racing’s terrestrial TV partner, ITV Racing. And to coincide with the occasion, ITV announced that it will now show six races live on each of the four days of next year’s Cheltenham Festival.

Until this year the network broadcast five races on each day with the other two races remaining exclusive to RacingTV.

Richard Willoughby, ITV Racing Editor, said: “Terrestrial viewers will be delighted that ITV Racing are able to show an additional race each day of The Festival in 2025.

“This means we will be showing 24 live races across the week and be on air for over four hours every day, as well as broadcasting our extended 90-minute Opening Show each morning.”

Cheltenham also published the order of running for the 2025 fixture in which the feature race each day will now be placed later in the card.

The Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup will now be the fifth race on the card and will be run at 4pm.

The racecourse revealed major increases in prize-money for some of the support races, the Grade One Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase and My Pension Expert Arkle Novices’ Chase will be worth £200,000 each (up from £175,000). In addition, all handicap chases have been increased in value to £150,000 (up from £125,000).

Ian Renton, The Jockey Club’s Managing Director of Cheltenham Racecourse, said: “It is fantastic news that ITV Racing will be now covering six of the seven races on each day of The Festival.

“We are hugely grateful for ITV’s ongoing and increased support, which enables us to showcase the very best in Jump racing to as wide an audience as possible.

“The publication of the Order of Running today follows on from the changes announced last month and sees the feature race now taking place later in the card each day, allowing the sense of excitement and anticipation to build through the afternoon.

“We are also pleased to be able to increase prize money for the two Grade One novices’ chases and all handicap chases, which will help to maintain and build on their competitiveness.”