Ladies Day returns to Cheltenham festival promising ‘glamour and glory’ | Cheltenham Festival 2026
First of all, it is a massive sporting event heralded by its fans as the Olympics of jumping racing, but it also serves as a social barometer that gives clues about the state and mood of the nation.
This year’s Cheltenham festival, which kicks off on Tuesday, feels a bit like a step back in time with the return of “Ladies’ Day” after a five-year hiatus and a reduction in the price of pints.
With a decision taken by the Jockey Club, which owns the hippodrome in 2024 Launch a unisex “Wednesday Style” Formerly Women’s Day, this day has been labeled “woke” by some right-wing commentators.
Last year the Jockey Club insisted on the event being open to all, but this time around, Women’s Day was back and billed as a celebration of “glamour and glamor”.
will be awards best-dressed individual, duo and group awards were awarded, and former champion jump jockey Rachael Blackmore was appointed “chairman of Ladies’ Day”.
The Jockey Club denied feeling under pressure to revive the event because of “woke” movements but said it simply wanted to attract more women and girls to racing.
Guy Lavender, general manager of Cheltenham racecourse, said: “Our main aim is to get more women and girls to come to the competition, which we think we can achieve. There are a lot of female sports fans who we think would love to attend the competition.”
Only a quarter of race entrants in recent years have been women, and early signs were that the divide might be a little wider this time.
Jade Holland Cooper, founder of fashion brand Holland Cooper, said the return of Women’s Day felt “incredibly special”. She said: “This is a moment in the week where everyone really embraces the occasion and dresses up.
“Cheltenham style is often compared to Ascot or Aintree, but it’s actually quite different. It’s much more heritage-rooted – beautiful tweeds, strong tailoring and pieces that work with the elements rather than against them.”
Model and presenter Sophie Hall and Jordan Wylie, known for Channel 4’s Hunted, were spotted outside the meeting’s Holland Cooper store wearing matching houndstooth print outfits.
Hall said: “There were more men than women at Cheltenham. I think women can sometimes think they don’t know much about racing so they don’t come. But it should be for everyone.”
Zoë Gibson, from Peachy Belts store in the shopping village, said: “Some might ask when it’s Men’s Day. But it’s every day, especially in Guinness Village. If Ladies’ Day encourages more women to come to the competition, that must be a good thing.”
There was little sadness on Wednesday over the loss of unisex Style. Jonny Beardsall, a Yorkshire hatter, supported Ladies’ Day but said he hoped Cheltenham would not bow to pressure to be remembered as woke. “They shouldn’t take anything into consideration; they should be more careless.”
Another theme of the festival is trying to be more affordable to compete with the trend of going to places like Benidorm to watch the races in the sun with cheaper alcohol.
The Jockey Club has slashed the price of a pint of Guinness from £7.80 to £7.50 (around 400,000 are expected to be sold over the four days of the festival) and introduced prosecco, which costs £46 a bottle, compared to £85 for a bottle of house champagne.
People are allowed to move more freely through the space with drinks and a new, simpler hidden bar and food retail area called the Retreat has been created; a place where race fans who don’t have access to expensive accommodation can get out come rain or shine.
Lavender said pricing was an emotional issue: “This isn’t about selling more pints. It’s about delivering better value. We know the festival is hugely popular, but we have to get the value proposition right.”
