Cheltenham Festival organisers have introduced a major change to the course just days before the racing begins, with punters left outraged by the decision. The biggest week in horse racing is just around the corner, with jockeys, horses and fans set to descend on Cheltenham this week for the 2026 edition of the famous festival.

However, the build-up to the festival has been soured somewhat, after it was reported that a fairly significant change would be introduced. The switch relates to the placement of the final flight on the run-in, with many supporters unhappy with their meddling.

The Racing Post claim that the change, which is being described as ‘not insignificant’, will see a noticeably longer run-in, with the final flight on both courses moved. It’s said to be because of an area of the ground that can be affected by rain in the build-up to the festival, but it’s still a big shift from what has become the norm in recent years.

While it’s impossible to know exactly how much of a difference this will make until the action gets underway, in essence, it’s likely to have a big impact on how some jockeys approach each race. That’s because it should make the run in a slog for some horses, while favouring the big stayers at the same time.

It’s caused frustration among fans, given that plenty have already made their bets for the first few races of the week. Posting on X, @Hallybhoy11 remarked: “If you backed over 4.5 goals in a football game then they suddenly announced they were making the nets far smaller you’d be annoyed. Very frustrating this wasn’t communicated sooner as I do feel it’s significant.”

Chiming in on the debate, @Halligan88 added: “Nice to see that we only find out about this two days before the festival is about to start [head exploding emoji].”

Touching on the specifics, @DominicKing_DM wrote: “This is important: it changes everything about how a race will unfold, when a jockey should make his challenge that kind of thing. It’s a long way up that steep run-in from there.”

While a fuming @SziIlar said: “Quite pathetic that we learn about this just two days before the festival.”

And @TBJ_Racing posted: “Hang on a minute what? [laughing emojis] It’s on Tuesday why are we only hearing about this now?”