Cheltenham Festival Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. It is an event where many of the best British- and Irish-trained horses race to an extent which is relatively rare during the rest of the season. The festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The meeting usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day, and is particularly popular with Irish visitors. It features several Grade I races including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase
Horse racing in Japan Japan. Japan's top stakes races are run in the spring, autumn, and winter; the top race is the Japan Cup. The history of equestrian sports and horse racing in Japan goes back many centuries, but it was not until the Spring of 1862 that the first horse race in a recognizably European format was organized by a group of British residents on an area of drained marshland just outside the recently opened treaty port of Yokohama. After a series of informal races were held on the location often referred to as the Swamp Ground, in 1866 the Negishi Racecourse was