Cheltenham Festival 2022: Race schedule, TV channel, weather, and everything else you need to know

Cheltenham Festival 2022 is here! After a long, long year - and the spectatorless event that was last year's Festival - it's good to finally see people back in Cheltenham enjoying the races.

Some 250,000 people are expected to attend Cheltenham Festival this week, with the standout event being the Gold Cup on Friday. You can take a look at the full race schedule below. Today's opening day, meanwhile, is expected to be played out in sunny conditions as the pubs and bars of Cheltenham prepare for an influx of enthusiastic fans.

If you're heading to Cheltenham or just planning on watching along from home, check out all you need to know below.

Read more - Cheltenham Festival 2022 live: Race updates and celebrity spotting

What TV channel is the Cheltenham Festival on?

The Cheltenham races are to be shown on ITV and Racing TV. The latter is showing every race, while ITV is showing the big races. ITV's coverage runs each day this week from 12.50pm till 4.30pm. A daily preview programme, The Opening Show, will air at 9am each day on ITV4, too.

Cheltenham Festival weather forecast

In short: the weather is set to be okay on Tuesday, rainy on Wednesday, and then lovely on Thursday and Friday. Check out our full Cheltenham Festival weather forecast for more detail.

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Cheltenham Festival 2022 race schedule

Day one - Tuesday March 15

START TIMES	RACE	DISTANCE	TYPE	TELEVISED
13:30	The Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Race	2m abt ½f	Hurdle	ITV
14:10	The Sporting Life Arkle Challenge Trophy Steeple Chase	abt 2m	Chase	ITV
14:50	The Ultima Handicap Steeple Chase	3m abt 1f	Chase	ITV
15:30	The Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy (feature race)	2m abt ½f	Hurdle	ITV
16:10	The Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle Race	2m abt 4f	Hurdle	ITV
16:50	The Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle Race (Grade 3)	2m abt 4½f	Chase
17:30	The Ukraine Appeal National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup (Amateur Riders’ Novices’ Steeple Chase) (Grade 2)	3m abt 6f	Chase

Day two - Wednesday March 16

START TIMES	RACE	DISTANCE	TYPE	TELEVISED
13:30	The Ballymore Novices' Hurdle Race (Grade 1)	2m abt 5f	Hurdle	ITV
14:10	The Brown Advisory Novices’ Steeple Chase (Grade 1)	3m abt ½ f	Chase	ITV
14:50	The Coral Cup Hurdle (A Handicap Hurdle Race) (Grade 3)	2m abt 5f	Hurdle	ITV
15:30	The Betway Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase (Grade 1) (feature race)	Abt 2m	Chase	ITV
16:10	The Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeple Chase	3m 6f	Chase	ITV
16:50	The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Steeple Chase Challenge Cup (Grade 3)	2m abt ½f	Chase
17.30	The Weatherbys Champion Bumper (A Standard Open NH Flat Race) (Grade 1)	2m abt ½f	Bumper

Day three - Thursday March 17

START TIMES	RACE	DISTANCE	TYPE	TELEVISED
13:30	The Turners Novices’ Chase (Grade 1)	2m abt 4f	Chase	ITV
14:10	The Pertemps Network Final (A Handicap Hurdle Race) (Listed)	Abt 3m	Hurdle	ITV
14:50	The Ryanair Steeple Chase (Grade 1) (feature race)	2m abt 5f	Chase	ITV
15:30	The Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (Grade 1)	abt 3m	Hurdle	ITV
16:10	The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. Plate (A Handicap Steeple Chase) (Grade 3)	2m abt 5f	Chase	ITV
16:50	The Mares Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2)	2m 1f	Hurdle
17:30	Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup (sponsored by the JRL Group) (0-145)	3m abt 2f	Chase

Day four - Friday March 18 - Gold Cup day

START TIMES	RACE	DISTANCE	TYPE	TELEVISED
13:30	The JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1)	2m abt 1f	Hurdle	ITV
14:10	The McCoy Contractors County Handicap Hurdle Race (Grade 3)	2m abt 1f	Hurdle	ITV
14:50	The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle Race (Grade 1)	abt 3m	Hurdle	ITV
15:30	The Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Steeple Chase (Grade 1)	3m abt 2½ f	Chase	ITV
16:10	The St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters' Steeple Chase	3m abt 2½ f	Chase	ITV
16:50	The Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Steeple Chase (Grade 2)	2m abt ½f	Chase
17:30	Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (0-145)	2m abt 4½ f	Hurdle