watch the Cheltenham Festival free online

The Cheltenham Festival 2022 is a four-day horse-racing event held at the prestigious Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire. This year’s festival will run from March 15-18, with seven races (a mixture of Steeple, Bumper, and Chase events) per day, taking place from 13:30 GMT (06:30 PT/ 09:30 ET) until 17:30. Can’t attend in person? Don’t worry: below, we’ll explain how you can stream all of the action live online.

This post will only recommend official Cheltenham Festival broadcasters. Unlicensed streams are almost inevitable for popular sporting events, but we advise against using them. To begin with, the quality is often very poor, with laggy, low-resolution video. Additionally, these streams are likely to be taken offline for copyright violation, meaning you might not even see the end of a given race. You can watch all of the main events for free anyway, so there’s no reason to resort to unauthorized streams.

Many popular streaming platforms use geo-restriction to limit their audience to users in a specific country. As such, you’ll need a VPN to stream the Cheltenham Festival while traveling abroad (outside the UK).

How to live stream the Cheltenham Festival free online with a VPN

Accessing geo-blocked services from abroad is fairly simple with the right VPN; just follow the steps below.

Here’s how to watch the Cheltenham Festival online from anywhere:

  1. First, register with a suitable VPN provider. We recommend NordVPN but Surfshark and ExpressVPN are both strong choices too.
  2. Download and install the software, making sure you get the relevant version for your device.
  3. Log in and connect to any of your VPN’s British servers.
  4. Try watching a video on one of the services mentioned below. It should load instantly although if it doesn’t, clear your browser’s cookies and cache then refresh the page.

The Cheltenham Festival will be broadcast live, meaning it’s important to test your VPN in advance. If you leave it until the last minute, and anything goes wrong, you run the risk of missing the start of the race. By preparing beforehand, though, you ensure that there’ll be plenty of time to get help from your VPN’s customer support team.

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How to live stream the Cheltenham Festival for free in the UK

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You can watch the first five Cheltenham Festival races each day for free on ITV. This means you’ll also be able to stream them live on ITV Hub and TVPlayer.com. ITV will be showing every event from 13:30 GMT each day. This means you’ll be able to watch races including the Ultima Handicap Chase, Ryanair Steeple Chase, and of course, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, free-of-charge.

The ITV Hub and TVPlayer are both geo-restricted, meaning you’ll have to either be in the UK or using a British VPN server in order to access them. If you’re abroad (outside the UK) you can still watch the Cheltenham Festival by connecting to a VPN. We recommend NordVPN. This service offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to watch the majority of the 2022 Cheltenham Festival live and entirely risk-free.

Where else can I watch the Cheltenham Festival 2022 online?

If you’d like to live stream every single Cheltenham Festival race online, you’ll have to sign up for Racing TV. Monthly passes cost £24.98, although daily passes are available for £10 each. Unfortunately, while Racing TV does occasionally offer free trial periods to new subscribers, there’s no such promotion available at the moment.

Racing TV offers several features that the ITV Hub doesn’t, making it the better choice if you watch horse-racing regularly. For instance, you can find detailed information about the competing horses, watch every event on-demand after it’s finished, and place bets directly on the site. However, the ITV Hub is the better choice for most people, simply because it’s free.

Can I watch the Cheltenham Festival in other countries?

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Unfortunately, the Cheltenham Festival live stream will only be shown in the UK. However, with a VPN, it’s possible to access the ITV Hub, TVPlayer, and Racing TV from anywhere in the world. Racing TV requires you to have a payment method linked to a British address, though; this means that UK residents who are currently abroad can sign up with their usual credit or debit card. On the other hand, users from other countries will find it particularly difficult to register without help from a friend or relative in the UK.

2022 Cheltenham Festival schedule

With 28 events, 16 hours of coverage, and dozens of the world’s best jump racers, the Cheltenham Festival promises to be an unforgettable event. Take a look below for the full schedule:

DateEventTime (GMT)
March 15Supreme Novices’ Hurdle13:30
Arkle Novices' Chase14:10
Ultima Handicap Chase14:50
Champion Hurdle 15:30
Mares’ Hurdle 16:10
Boodles Juvenlike Handicap Hurdle16:50
National Hunt Novice's Chase17:30
March 16Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle13:30
Brown Advisory Novice's Chase14:10
Coral Cup 14:50
Champion Chase15:30
Cross Country Chase16:10
Grand Annual Handicap Chase16:50
Champion Bumper17:30
March 17Novice's Chase13:30
Pertemps Final14:10
Ryanair Chase14:50
Stayers’ Hurdle15:30
Paddy Power Plate16:10
Mares’ Novices Hurdle16:50
Kim Muir Challenge Cup17:30
March 18Triumph Hurdle13:30
County Hurdle14:10
Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle14:50
Cheltenham Gold Cup15:30
Festival Hunter's Chase16:10
Mares' Chase16:50
Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle17:30

Which horses are expected to perform well?

If you’re a horse racing fan, you’ll find plenty of familiar names here. Protektorat and lostintranslation, for instance, are expected to do well. However, the real favorites this time around are Minella Indo and Monfish, both of whom are looking to secure their second Cheltenham victory.

See also: Best VPN for Betting and Gambling