Are you gearing up to attend your first Cheltenham Festival this year? Keep reading to familiarise yourself with a guide to style and etiquette for the event.
If you have decided to attend Cheltenham Festival for the first time this year, you must ensure you know everything there is to know when it comes to style and etiquette with the event known for its eclectic mix of attendees and hair-raising atmosphere. It truly must be seen to be believed but by failing to do your homework beforehand, you run the risk of appearing out of place or making a rookie mistake. To familiarise yourself with a guide to Cheltenham Festival style and etiquette, continue reading.
Learn the lingo
It may be a highly social event that is attended by both experienced and inexperienced horse racing fans every year but if you are to truly understand exactly what is going on just metres away from you, you must learn the lingo. This can be done by conducting online research in the months before the event, watching minor horse races in the lead up to the big day, and even chatting to a fellow attendee on the day. It is also considered good manners to strike up a conversation with the person standing next to you with the opportunity to learn a brand-new snippet of information lurking around every corner.
Plan your day
If you turn up at Cheltenham Festival with little to no structure or plan of action for how your day is going to play out, you might end up missing important races or feeling as if you wasted valuable time and money. It may, therefore, benefit you to plan your day sooner rather than later by getting to grips with this year’s Cheltenham Races dates, race cards, horses, jockeys, and odds in the days leading up to the big day. This can streamline the entire day, especially if you are a first-time attendee, and prevent you from regretting your decision to just go with the flow.
Dress smart
It may not necessarily have a strictly enforced official dress code like some similar events do, but when it comes to attending a major horse race, it is usually implied that you should dress smart. This tends to include oversized hats, tweed jackets, formal suits, fur stoles, and general country wear but with Cheltenham Festival taking place in Gloucestershire, England, in March every year, you must prioritise practicality and warmth and essentially expect the worst with the weather at this time of the year more often than not impossible to accurately predict.
If this year will mark your first time at Cheltenham Festival, you must ensure you are clued up when it comes to style and etiquette by familiarising yourself with a number of unofficial rules that attendees are expected to follow. To do so, learn the lingo by conducting online research, watching minor horse races, and chatting to a fellow attendee, plan your day by getting to grips with dates, race cards, horses, jockeys, and odds, and, last but not least, dress smart with no strictly enforced official dress code but oversized hats, tweed jackets, formal suits, fur stoles, and general country wear common choices.