Just hours now till horse racing lovers will be frothing at the mouth with the next instalment of the Cheltenham Festival (2025). However, with the fields starting to take shape and punters starting to pick their fancies, the Cheltenham Festival going on day one has always been a key talking point.
With that in mind, we look at the Cheltenham Festival going from day one over the last 15 years – and even though it’s going to be hard to predict the weather at this stage, this will still give us an idea of the most likely ground conditions on the opening day.
Cheltenham Festival Going Over the Last 15 Years: ‘Soft’ Has Dominated Recently
| Date | Going (Day One) |
| 2024, Tues 12th March | Soft (heavy in places) |
| 2023, Tues 14th March | Soft |
| 2022, Tues 15th March | Good-to-Soft |
| 2021, Tues 16th March | Soft (good-to-soft in places) |
| 2020, Tues 10th March | Soft (heavy in places) |
| 2019, Tues 12th March | Soft |
| 2018, Tues 13th March | Heavy (soft in places) |
| 2017, Tues 14th March | Good-to-Soft |
| 2016, Tues 15th March | Good-to-Soft (soft in places) |
| 2015, Tues 10th March | Good-to-Soft (good in places) |
| 2014, Tues 11th March | Good-to-Soft (good in places) |
| 2013, Tues 12th March | Soft (good-to-soft in places) |
| 2012, Tues 13th March | Good (good-to-soft in places) |
| 2011, Tues 15th March | Good (good-to-soft in places) |
| 2010, Tues 16th March | Good-to-Soft (good in places) |
Cheltenham Festival Weather 2025
See below the Cheltenham Festival weather forecast for the four days – with a dry period expected throughout the whole meeting.
Cheltenham Festival Going Broken Down (Since 2010)
Having broken down the Cheltenham going over the last 15 years, you can see that ‘SOFT’ and ‘GOOD-to-SOFT’ have been the most common day one ground conditions – with a combined 80%.
- Soft – 6 (40%)
- Good-to-Soft – 6 (40%)
- Good – 2 (13%)
- Heavy – 1 (7%)
‘Good-to-Soft’ Cheltenham Going The Most Likely Day One Ground, Based On The Stats
With the Prestbury Park officials often watering the track if the lead up to the 2025 Festival is dry, then it’s no shock to see ‘soft’ or ‘good-to-soft’ Cheltenham going having cropped up in 12 of the last 15 Festivals.
This has been an equal split of six each.
However, it’s worth pointing out that we’ve only seen ‘good-to-soft’ once on day one in the last seven Festivals.
In contrast, ‘soft’ has been the order of the day in more recent meetings – with this Cheltenham going on day one showcased in five of the last six years.
The last time there was ‘good’ Cheltenham going was in 2012.
While the only time in the last 15 years we’ve had ‘heavy’ opening day ground was in 2018.
That said, in 2020 and 2024, it was almost heavy ground – with the description ‘soft’ (heavy in places).
What Was the Cheltenham Festival Going On Day One Last Year (2024)?
In 2024 the tapes went up in the opening race – the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle with the Cheltenham Festival going described as ‘soft’ (heavy in places).
However, after race two (2:10) last year the going was changed to ‘heavy’ (soft-in-places) – you can see the mud splattered on Rachael Blackmore below.
The day two Cheltenham going in 2024 was back to ‘soft’ (heavy in places), but the Cross Country Chase was called off as that track was waterlogged.
Day three in 2024 saw the going as ‘soft’, while Gold Cup Day on the Friday was still ‘soft’ (heavy in places) on the chase course and ‘heavy’ on the hurdles track.
