irishracing.com Survey Reveals Cheltenham and Royal Ascot as Fans' Bucket List Meetings A new irishracing.com survey has revealed the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot are the two meetings at the top of racing fan’s bucket lists — comfortably ahead of Aintree, York, and a host of international festivals. The findings form part of irishracing.com’s State of Racing 2025 survey, which asked readers to name the race meeting or Festival at the top of their bucket list, whether at home or abroad. Nearly 400 fans responded, citing over 40 different events across the UK, Ireland, and further afield. Top 10 Bucket List Meetings (All Regions) (Full results include 40+ named meetings, from the Epsom Derby and Glorious Goodwood to lesser-known favourites like Laytown, Cartmel, and Fairyhouse.) Cheltenham Tops the Poll As seen in the results to our question to our readers of the UK’s favourite racecourse, Cheltenham reigns supreme again as it did when readers were asked to name their favourite UK track. With more than 60 mentions from our 389 responses, the Cheltenham Festival accounted for over 15% of all our responses. The four-day March Festival is rightly seen as the pinnacle of the National Hunt game and the famous ‘Cheltenham Roar’ that accompanies it helps to create a unique atmosphere. Its appeal to both casual fans and the hardcore remains. Cheltenham also holds dual appeal with a further five respondents citing the November meeting at Prestbury Park as their bucket list horse racing event. Respondents to our open-ended question cited the “buzz” and quality of racing found in March when asked to justify their response. One respondent even described the Festival as “the Olympics of National Hunt racing”. Irishracing.com Editor Vincent Finegan added: “The Cheltenham Festival was always going to be the No.1 bucket list trip for Irishracing.com fans, but it is something of a surprise to see Royal Ascot coming in a close second. “On our website interest in Cheltenham far outweighs all other racing events and we normally see much more interest in National Hunt racing in general than the Flat. “I presume the reason that Punchestown, Listowel and Galway are down the pecking order is because most of our audience will have already ticked them off their bucket lists.” Royal Ascot and Aintree Round Out the Top Three Royal Ascot was not far behind the Cheltenham Festival with the highlight of the Flat season with its Royal connection gaining 52 bucket list votes. That may change in the coming years with attendance trends suggesting Royal Ascot is more popular than Cheltenham. HBLB data for the 2025 editions of the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot show that the Royal meeting is better attended. There were 218,093 people through the gate across the four days of the Cheltenham Festival, an average of 54,523 per day, while Royal Ascot attracted 286,541 punters, an average of 57,308 per day. Most of those who had Royal Ascot at the top of their bucket list cited the quality of racing at the UK’s premier Flat meeting but some were attracted by the “pagentary” or “pomp”. Aintree’s Grand National meeting was down in third in our survey with 43 respondents. The feature race is the highlight of the racing calendar although recent changes to the event may have seen its popularity waver while the undercard is not as strong as that of Cheltenham. In terms of Flat meetings, York’s Ebor meeting took fourth spot, confirming its place as a modern fan favourite. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe meeting in Paris was the only representation from the continent to break into our top five as the highest-ranked international event. Irish Strength and International Appeal Outside of the top five, Irish festivals performed strongly with Punchestown, Listowel, and Galway all inside the top ten, demonstrating Ireland’s enduring appeal even among domestic fans. The rest of the top 10 was completed by the USA’s Breeders’ Cup and the Melbourne Cup of Australia showing that events across the globe with high prestige appealed to Irish racing fans. The same is true of trainers with Willie Mullins dramatically clinching the most recent Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar while Joseph O’Brien has won the Melbourne Cup twice since 2017. Those who had the Breeders’ Cup at the top of their list did so for the quality of racing while the sheer scale of the “race that stops a nation” is what appeals about the Melbourne Cup. Other global mentions included the Kentucky Derby, Dubai World Cup, Japan Cup, and even the Palio di Siena in Italy. Racing’s appeal extends far beyond the traditional UK—Ireland axis. Why It Matters The diversity of responses highlights the sport’s depth and global reach. Regardless of whether it was the Cheltenham Festival, Royal Ascot or the Breeders’ Cup the most common reason for anybody’s pick was the quality of racing. On the whole, Irish racing fans put quality above atmosphere in their picks. However, there were still votes for the unique beach racing at Laytown and Cartmel’s summer picnics. Survey Details The irishracing.com State of Racing 2025 survey was conducted in August 2025, with 389 respondents. Participants were asked: “What race meeting or festival is on your bucket list to attend, and why?” Responses were open-ended, allowing for both domestic and international selections.
