The Going at Cheltenham Explained: The Scale, the Two Courses and How to Read Race-Week Changes

The official going scale

The going is the racecourse's official description of the state of the ground. In Britain it is published on a fixed scale, from fastest to slowest:

Cheltenham's descriptions are published by the racecourse (owned by The Jockey Club) and updated as conditions change in the run-up to a meeting and on the morning of racing.

Combined descriptions

Ground is rarely uniform, so descriptions are often combined with an "in places" qualifier:

The rule of thumb: the "in places" qualifier pulls the effective going towards the slower description. A horse that handles Soft may not handle Soft, Heavy in places.

Why March is usually soft

The Festival is run in mid-March, at the end of the British winter, on ground that carries the rain of the preceding months. The record bears that out: soft has been the opening-day going description at four of the last five Festivals (Racing Post). That is the single most useful fact on this page for anyone betting ante-post in September — the ground you are betting into is more likely to be soft than good.

What we do not publish: a going description for every past Festival race, or a trend of the "soft-ground winners of the Gold Cup" kind. Our database does not yet hold verified going data race by race, and we will not fill the gap from memory.

Old Course and New Course

Cheltenham runs the Festival on two configurations of the main track, plus the Cross Country course inside it.

Why it matters for the going: the two configurations use different sections of ground, so the same weather can leave the Old Course and the New Course riding differently. The Old Course takes the first two days' racing before the meeting switches to the New Course on Thursday. (We do not publish a specific elevation figure for the hill because our sources disagree; we say only that every course finishes uphill.)

How to read going changes in race week

A checklist, in the order the information arrives:

1. The official going update. Read the racecourse's own description, including any "in places" qualifier, and note the time it was issued. Our going page carries the description with its timestamp.
2. The rainfall forecast. Rain between the update and the off is the biggest source of a change; a dry, windy day can also dry the ground faster than expected. Note that Tuesday's forecast matters for the Old Course and Thursday's for the New.
3. The direction of the last change. A description moving from Good to Soft towards Soft tells you the ground is getting slower; the reverse tells you it is drying. Direction is often more useful than the description itself.
4. Time of the update. A morning-of-racing update after overnight rain carries more weight than one from the previous afternoon.
5. Non-runners. A cluster of withdrawals on the morning of racing "on account of the ground" is a signal that connections read the going as unsuitable — and each withdrawal may trigger a Rule 4 deduction on bets already placed.
6. Your horse's record. Match the expected going against the horse's proven form on that going, and be honest when the evidence is thin — one run on soft is not a soft-ground record.

What not to do: treat a rumour, a jockey's comment or a bookmaker's promotion as the going. The official description is the only one that counts.

Where the going fits in a Festival bet

• Ante-post (September–February): you are betting into unknown ground. Four of five recent Festivals opened on soft, so weight your judgement accordingly. See ante-post betting.
• Race week: the going is known but can still change between declarations (48 hours out) and the off; check for updates on the morning of each day.
• Each-way in big-field handicaps: testing ground tends to produce more finishers in trouble and more spread-out finishes, which is one reason each-way terms and extra places get more attention on soft-ground days. That is analysis, not a rule.

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