Record Crowd Cheers Cheltenham Runners
Tuesday’s crowd of 56,284 at the Cheltenham Festival was a new record for the first day since the event moved to four days in 2005. The opening day of the Cheltenham Festival got the go ahead despite overnight frost, with the start of racing delayed by 35 minutes.
This meant the famous Cheltenham roar was heard slightly later than planned, with the first race finally setting off at 14:05. While the Champion Hurdle, the day’s main race, was put back to 16:00.
The Cross-Country Chase, pencilled in for 17:45, will now run on Thursday at 17:15 after an inspection.
Ian Renton, regional director of Jockey Club Racecourses, commented: ‘To get in excess of 56,000 people and be almost 2,000 up is a tremendous testament to the appeal of The Festival and the hard work of all the team here in making today happen.’
Last year’s attendance came to 54,471, while 53,318 attended in 2011. Friday, Gold Cup Day, is a sell-out in all enclosures but tickets and badges can be bought at the gates tomorrow, Ladies Day, and Thursday, St Patrick’s Thursday.
An estimated 230,000 spectators are expected over the four days.
As the first race got underway, Peter McNeile, Director of Sponsorship for Cheltenham Racecourse, spoke to sportindustry.biz about the association that Guinness has with the Cheltenham Festival, with every second pint sold at the event a pint of the black stuff.
