Apart from the name of this site?! Haha – well, certainly, if you are a keen horse racing enthusiast, you will certainly be aware of what this is and the context behind it.

Of course, the Cheltenham Festival is arguably the most anticipated event in every serious horse racing fan’s calendar and a chance to really hit the big time, with every bookmaker offering generous odds – indeed, I myself have reaped the benefits of this over the years!

It also can quite often decide the year’s Champion Jockey and Champion Trainer, with many in years’ gone by having a vast number of wins during that week, including trainer’s Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins. However, as far as the ‘road to Cheltenham’ goes, there is quite a journey to get there.

Deciding Who Qualifies To Race At Cheltenham

Over the course of the jump racing season, there are a number of races that are designated – in fact, seven in total, at meetings all around the UK from as early as November.

It starts with the Elite Hurdle, held at Wincanton Racecourse, which has had a few notable winners in the past, with the latest being Paul Nicholls-trained Rubaud, ridden by Harry Cobden.

The Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham follows this and this time around it was another win for Cobden, this time atop Burdett Road, trained by James Owen, with Be Aware coming in second for the Skelton team (trainer Dan and jockey Harry) – I assume most of you know what I mean by the ‘Skelton team’!

Next up, there is the curiously named Morgiana Hurdle (anyone seeing a theme here??), held at Punchestown – again in November, where we saw a major upset, with odds-on favourite (4/9), State Man comprising the prolific team of trainer Willie Mullins and jockey Paul Townend beaten to the, ah, ‘punch’ (get it?!), by Brighterdaysahead, trained by Gordon Elliott.

Again, in November, we have the Fighting Fifth Hurdle from Newcastle Racecourse, which witnessed a superb display by the sensational Nicky Henderson-trained Sir Gino at 6/5 odds, with jockey Nico de Boinville handling it brilliantly. Even at the age of four, it already looks like a seasoned performer and I definitely think it will be one to watch.

Sir Gino wins the G1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle!

Is he the 2025 Champion Hurdle winner? pic.twitter.com/H08qN3wWrM

— GrosvenorSport (@GrosvenorSport) November 30, 2024

We have the International Hurdle up next, held in January and, it will be certainly interesting to see who is running. Last season’s winner, Lossiemouth with the combination of Mullins and Townend could be in contention, while there are a number of others who could well make up an interesting field, including another Mullins-trained possible entry in Anzadam.

The final of each of these six qualifying races takes place at the Cheltenham Festival in March – The Champion Hurdle, last season won by odds-on 2/5 favourite and aforementioned State Man.

How Much Interest Is There In The Road To Cheltenham?

From a personal standpoint, I think this concept does make the season particularly interesting, almost right from the start, due to the number of meetings that take place in November that feature a Road To Cheltenham race.

It also makes some of these meetings a good selling point for race enthusiasts, if they are deciding which meetings to go to and adds some considerable hype to proceedings.