Cheltenham Racecourse to Undergo USD49m Makeover

British horseracing’s iconic Cheltenham Racecourse has confirmed plans for a US$48.8m makeover of the famous track, stressing however, that the Festival will remain unchanged during the building work. 

The impending work means that any prospect of the Cheltenham Festival being extended to five days has been postponed while the redevelopment takes place. Plans will be finalised over the summer, with improving the grandstand facilities the main focus of the project. 

Edward Gillespie ,the course’s managing director, said: “They’re lovely buildings, they’re perfectly serviceable but they’re in a place where we’d like to put better, bigger, more modern buildings”.

Cheltenham Racecourse has also announced that family-owned producers of Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky, Glenfarclas, is to continue its sponsorship of Cross Country Steeplechasing for a further three years, up to, and including, the Cheltenham Festival in March 2014.

The company currently sponsors a series of events at Pau in France, Punchestown in Ireland, and all three of Cheltenham’s Cross Country races. 

The three Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeplechases, which are all covered by Channel 4 television at Cheltenham, take place at the Open in November, the International in December, and the Festival in March. 

Charles Hamer, marketing director of Pol Roger, the European distributor of Glenfarclas, added: “Renewing this relationship with Cheltenham for a further three years will, we hope, go a long way to achieving our goal of making Glenfarclas the ‘turn to’ Malt Whisky of the Racing World”.