Cheltenham organisers are set to welcome a record crowd to Prestbury Park this week as fans return after last year’s behind-closed-doors Festival.
More than 266,000 fans attended across the four days of the 2019 Festival, when the current record was set, but that mark looks likely to be shattered, with as many as 275,000 spectators expected to pour in.
Tickets for Friday, Gold Cup Day, had sold out by the end of January, while Thursday, St. Patrick’s Day, has also sold out in advance for the first time.
“There are a lot of loyal fans who were unable to come in 2021,” Ian Renton, the Jockey Club’s regional director for Cheltenham, told Standard Sport. “There are many who come every year and many who come every other year or every third year, for example. So, some of those have been very sad to miss a year and are determined they’re not going to miss this year.”
Despite the unprecedented demand, Renton is confident the course will still be able to deliver for racegoers.
“We are very used to working with Gold Cup Day and we cap the numbers at what we believe is correct to balance the revenues and the customer experience [around 72,000 per day],” he added. “We’ve been used to doing that on the Friday for a long time so to extend to Thursday isn’t a major issue.”
Cheltenham has also had to cap its number of annual members - who are guaranteed entry to every meeting - for the first time at around 8,000, after more than 95 per cent of existing patrons chose to roll on their membership despite the 2020/21 season playing out almost entirely without fans.
The absence of spectators on course last year cost the Jockey Club more than £100m in lost revenue, with Cheltenham far more reliant on income from racegoers than smaller courses, where a bigger proportion comes from TV rights.
Ticket prices have risen by between three and five per cent on average in the two years since fans were last on track at a Festival in 2020, but Renton warned a more significant hike could follow for next year’s meeting.
“We were selling tickets [for this year] immediately after the 2021 Festival, when we were still unaware of some of the costs that would be coming our way over recent months,” he said. “Going forward, we will at some stage have to react to the inflationary pressures that we’re all under.”
That will come as worrying news to fans, who have already complained about the cost of some catering services at the course - a pint of Guinness at Cheltenham’s New Year’s Day meeting this year cost £6.80 - and are facing spiralling hotel prices as businesses appear understandably keen to make up for last year’s lost income, with the Festival estimated to be worth up to £100m to the local economy.
