State of Racing Survey: Cheltenham Named Favourite UK Track

By irishracing.com news

irishracing.com’s State of Racing Survey reveals that Cheltenham, the home of UK jump racing, is the UK’s most popular racecourse amongst Irish fans — finishing well ahead of York, Ascot, and Aintree.

The findings are part of the State of Racing 2025 project, which asked irishracing.com readers to name their favourite UK track.

Top 10 Most Popular Racecourses in Britain

(List includes all 37 UK courses mentioned, from Cheltenham down to smaller local favourites like Ludlow, Thirsk, and Newton Abbot.)

Why Cheltenham Leads the Way

Cheltenham earned more votes than the second and third most popular venues combined, clearly establishing itself as the favourite UK racecourse among irishracing.com readers.

This is no surprise given its role as the spiritual home of National Hunt racing. There are high-profile meetings across the year, including the Cheltenham Festival — the most famous Festival across the UK and Ireland and arguably Europe.

The Festival has appeal across the spectrum. Casual racing fans who may see the March spectacle as the only racing event worth tuning into while it retains the hardcore who view it as the pinnacle of the sport.

irishracing.com Editor Vincent Finegan commented:

“As the majority of our audience are Irish it would be expected that Cheltenham would come out well ahead of the other UK racecourses.

“Irish racing fans have a huge love for the Cheltenham Festival and tens of thousands make the annual pilgrimage to the Cotswolds each March.

“The unprecedented success of Irish-trained horses at Cheltenham in recent years is most likely adding to the appeal of the racecourse among our audience.”

The Numbers: Attendance Context

Analysing full attendance data for each racecourse in the UK, we can see that the Cheltenham Festival was not the most popular in 2025.

According to HBLB data, this year, there were 218,093 people through the gates across the four days, an average of 54,523 per day while Royal Ascot attracted 286,541 punters, an average of 57,308 per day.

In 2024, Cheltenham outperformed Royal Ascot on average attendance per day by 2,794; however, in 2025, Cheltenham’s figures fell by 5.2% while Royal Ascot’s increased by 4.75% with Royal Ascot leapfrogging Cheltenham Festival for average attendance per day.

For the three-day Grand National Festival in 2025, Aintree pulled in 125,151 punters while the York Ebor meeting brought in 72,998 people across four days.

While three and four match our data for popularity, Cheltenham took top spot by some distance despite Royal Ascot outperforming on attendance in 2025. This highlights a subtle distinction between fan preference and actual turnstile numbers.

Regional Appeal and Notable Outperformers

Beyond the major names, several regional tracks punched above their weight in the survey.

Cartmel, which hosts just eight meetings a year, is known for combining a picturesque setting in the Lake District village with unique jumps racing through the summer months.

Chester also performed well without a huge Festival like Aintree or Cheltenham, thanks to it being the oldest racecourse still in operation with its history dating back to 1539.

Even smaller tracks — Hexham, Ripon and Kempton — all attracted five mentions amongst our readers — which is impressive given their modest profile.

Major Festivals dominate the attention with higher-quality racing and atmosphere therefore lending themselves to being punters’ favourite. However, smaller races with a focus on local charm show they still play a significant role in the consciousness of racing fans.

Survey Details

The irishracing.com State of Racing 2025 survey was conducted in August 2025, with 389 respondents. Participants were asked to name their favourite UK racecourse with some opting not to name a favourite. All other responses were tallied to produce the ranking.

Rankings In Full