Cheltenham Parks Lido is the home of Cheltenham Swimming and Water Polo Club. Cheltenham Festival is a significant National Hunt racing meeting, and has race prize money second only to the Grand National. It is an event where many of the best British and Irish trained horses race against each other, the extent of which is relatively rare during the rest of the season. The festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse. The meeting is often very popular with Irish visitors, mostly because of that nation's affinity with horse racing, but also because it usually coincides with St. Patrick's
Horse racing in Great Britain existence, the Kiplingcotes Derby was first run in 1519. The Carlisle Bells, reputedly the oldest sporting trophy in the world, were first competed for in the 16th century, in a race that still bears their name. One of the bells is inscribed "The sweftes horse thes bel tak" ("The swiftest horse takes this bell"). Racing was established at Chester, the oldest surviving racecourse in England, by 1540. In the 1580s Queen Elizabeth I is recorded as attending races on Salisbury Plain.. Leith Races were established by 1591, and at Doncaster by 1595. During the reign of Elizabeth, interest in horse