Cheltenham Festival 2022: How to watch, TV channel, radio coverage, race schedule and Gold Cup odds

One of the biggest events in the racing calendar is almost upon us, with the prestigious Cheltenham Festival getting underway on March 15.  

Fans will be welcomed back in their thousands after the showpiece event took place behind closed doors last year at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire. 

It was Minella Indo and jockey Jack Kennedy who stole the show in the event’s most prestigious race, the Gold Cup, fending off the competition from Rachael Blackmore on board A Plus Tard. 

Minella Indo returns looking for back-to-back triumphs, but the likes of A Plus Tard and Galvin are set to provide fierce competition in what is expected to be another thrilling encounter. 

With that in mind, Sportsmail takes you through the all-important information below…

The fans will return in their thousands as the Cheltenham Festival gets underway on March 15 

When is Cheltenham Festival 2022?

The Cheltenham Festival gets underway on Tuesday, March 15 and will run until Friday, March 18. 

This year’s festival will kick-off with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdles, which begins at 1.30pm on the Tuesday. The first feature race of the festival will be Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle, which gets underway at 3.30pm. 

As is tradition at the Festival, St Patrick’s Day will fall on Thursday, while Ladies Day comes beforehand on Wednesday. 

The Festival’s showpiece – the Gold Cup – takes place at 3.30pm on Friday afternoon.  

Henry de Bromhead’s Minella Indo is bidding for a second successive Gold Cup victory 

How to watch Cheltenham Festival 2022

There are two primary options when it comes to watching this year’s Cheltenham Festival, being ITV and Racing TV.   

ITV, whose coverage begins at 12.40pm and ends at 4.30pm, will broadcast five of seven races each day, with the action also available to be streamed on their ITV Hub.  

ITV also have ‘The Opening Show’ coming your way every morning to preview the day’s upcoming events. 

Racing TV – which is on channel 426 on Sky and 536 on Virgin Media – will be showing every race live. However, some form of payment will be required, with day and month passes available at £10 and £25 respectively. 

Racing TV will also be streaming the races online, with no additional cost to existing subscribers.  

How to listen to Cheltenham Festival 2022 

Coverage of the Cheltenham Festival will also be accessible via the radio. talkSPORT will be covering four races a day live – including the feature event – on the Hawksbee and Jacobs show.  

Elsewhere, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra will provide live commentary of all 28 races on each of the four days of action. 

Their coverage will start 1.30pm and end at 5.30pm each day, with former jockeys Katie Walsh, Andrew Thornton and Charlie Poste part of their production, while Mark Chapman will host on the final day.  

Cheltenham 2022 day-by-day race schedule 

Day 1 – Tuesday 15th March

• 1.30pm – Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 
• 2.10pm – Arkle Novices’ Chase
• 2.50pm – Ultimate Handicap Chase
• 3.30pm – Champion Hurdle
• 4.10pm – Mares’ Hurdle
• 4.50pm – Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle Race
• 5.30pm – National Hunt Chas

Day 2 – Wednesday 16th March

• 1.30pm – Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle
• 2.10pm – Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
• 2.50pm – Coral Cup
• 3.30pm – Champion Chase
• 4.10pm – Cross Country Chase
• 4.50pm – Grand Annual Handicap Chase
• 5.30pm – Champion Bumper

Day 3 – Thursday 17th March

• 1.30pm – Turners’ Novices’ Chase
• 2.10pm – Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle
• 2.50pm – Ryanair Chase
• 3.30pm – Stayers’ Hurdle
• 4.10pm – Paddy Power Plate
• 4.50pm – Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle
• 5.30pm – Kim Muir Handicap Chase

Day 4 – Friday 18th March 

• 1.30pm – Triumph Hurdle
• 2.10pm – County Handicap Hurdle
• 2.50pm – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle
• 3.30pm – Cheltenham Gold Cup
• 4.10pm – Festival Hunters’ Chase
• 4.50pm – Mares’ Chase
• 5.30pm – Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle

Gold Cup race odds