{"id":45608,"date":"2025-01-08T11:56:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T11:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cheltenhambettingsites.co.uk\/?page_id=45608"},"modified":"2025-02-25T15:34:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T15:34:04","slug":"cheltenham-horses","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cheltenhambettingsites.co.uk\/horses\/","title":{"rendered":"All Cheltenham Horses & Festival Early Closing Entries"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Cheltenham\n

There are a lot of hopeful owners and trainers behind Cheltenham horses seeking Festival wins with their animals. After all, the equine talent on show at the big meeting do all the hard work.<\/p>\n

In this complete guide to Cheltenham runners at the Festival, we show you who holds entries in which races. Before all that, however, it is good to know how the entry process works. We explain that first.<\/p>\n

How Do Festival Entries for Cheltenham Horses Work?<\/h2>\n

All 28 races on the Cheltenham schedule<\/a> are what they call “early-closing races”. Unlike other, lesser meetings, where most entries close six days beforehand, owners and trainers must put their horses in the Festival races as far out as two months prior.<\/p>\n

This is because of the stature of the Cheltenham Festival. It dominates the entire National Hunt season, much like the way Flat owners and trainers approach Royal Ascot. This, after all, is the premier meeting over jumps.<\/p>\n

From early January onwards with the Gold Cup, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Ryanair Chase up first, owners and trainers pay entry fees for prospective Cheltenham runners. There are subsequent forfeit and supplementary stages where they can decide on a definitive target.<\/p>\n

This is because of the potential risk of injury or loss of form in Festival trials held over the winter months of January and February. There is nothing to stop connections from initially entering their runners in multiple races at the meeting either.<\/p>\n\"Cheltenham\n

All sorts of factors influence plans for Cheltenham horses today. The same owner may have others in training targeting similar Festival races, so that leads to them being split up so as to secure maximum potential prize money.<\/p>\n

They don’t have to show their hands too early. This is where Cheltenham betting offers<\/a> like Non Runner No Bet (NRNB) terms on ante-post wagers come in handy.<\/p>\n

Just because you as a punter fancy a horse for a certain race doesn’t mean it will end up there at the Festival. We won’t know final Cheltenham runners and riders until 48 hours before the respective days of the Festival races.<\/p>\n

Until that point, it can be a bit of a guessing game. In the meantime, Cheltenham betting sites<\/a> price up all the action on the biggest races ante-post.<\/p>\n

When Do Cheltenham Festival Races Close for Entries?<\/h3>\n

Below is a list of dates when Cheltenham horses must go into early closing races in 2025:<\/p>\n

\n