UK Horse Racing Calendar

UK Horse Racing Calendar: The Big Races and Festivals Through the Year.

Royal Ascot Parade

Britain's racing year at a glance

No country does a racing calendar quite like Britain. There's top-class action every month of the year, a jumps season that builds to Cheltenham and Aintree, and a Flat season that peaks with the Derby and Royal Ascot before the summer festivals take over.

Here's how the year breaks down, with the biggest races and what makes each one worth watching.

Confirmed 2027 dates for the major festivals

These are the dates published so far for 2027. Always check the racecourse website before you book anything.

UK Racing 2027 Dates

The other big meetings, including Glorious Goodwood, the York Ebor Festival and the St Leger Festival, hold their traditional slots each year. Check each racecourse for exact days.

January and February: the jumps take centre stage

Cheltenham Winners Enclosure

Winter is National Hunt territory. The trials days and Cheltenham preps in January and February are where the festival contenders are sorted from the pretenders.

Cheltenham Trials Day (January): the first big clue for the Festival, run on the Festival's own course.
Clarence House Chase (Ascot, January): a top two-mile chase and a key pointer for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Betfair Hurdle (Newbury, February): one of the best and most competitive handicap hurdles of the winter.

March: the Cheltenham Festival

Four days at Prestbury Park, and for many people the best week in the sporting year. It's where Britain and Ireland go head to head, and the standard of racing is the highest the jumps game has to offer.

Champion Hurdle (Tuesday): the opening-day feature.
Queen Mother Champion Chase (Wednesday): the two-mile chasing championship.
Stayers' Hurdle (Thursday, known as St Patrick's Thursday): the three-mile hurdling championship.
Cheltenham Gold Cup (Friday): the blue riband of steeplechasing.

The Flat season also opens in late March with the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster.

April: Aintree and the start of the Flat

Aintree Grand National

The Grand National is a race millions of people watch in the UK Horse Racing Calendar, even if they never normally bet. Three days at Aintree build up to it, with Ladies Day on the Friday and the National itself on the Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Flat is getting going. The Craven Meeting at Newmarket is the traditional Guineas trial, and the Scottish Grand National at Ayr rounds off the major jumps action.

May: the Guineas and the Chester and York meetings

The first two British Classics, the 2000 Guineas and 1000 Guineas, are run over the Guineas Festival at Newmarket. They're a landmark in the Flat season and an early read on the three-year-old generation.

Also worth catching: the Chester May Festival, run on the tight, turning Roodee track, and the Dante Festival at York, a key Derby trial.

Chester Ladies Day

June: the Derby and Royal Ascot

This is the month Flat racing fans wait for.

Epsom Derby and Oaks: the Oaks for fillies on the Friday, and the Derby on the Saturday. The Derby is the most famous Flat race in Britain, run over a mile and a half round a very unusual track.
Royal Ascot: five days of elite racing, tradition and fashion. Feature races include the Gold Cup, Queen Anne Stakes, St James's Palace Stakes, Prince of Wales's Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

July: the summer festivals begin

Newmarket July Festival: includes the July Cup, the top British sprint of the summer.
Eclipse Stakes (Sandown): the first meeting of the three-year-old and older generations in the top mile-and-a-quarter races.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Ascot): a midsummer highlight that often decides the season's best middle-distance horse.
Glorious Goodwood: five days of racing on the Sussex Downs, running from late July into early August. It's the most relaxed and scenic of the big summer festivals andd one of the highlights of the UK Horse Racing Calendar.

Glorious Goodwood Festival

August: York's Ebor Festival

The York Ebor Festival is the best of the late summer. Four days on the Knavesmire featuring the Juddmonte International, the Nunthorpe Stakes, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Ebor Handicap, one of the richest handicaps of the year.

September: the St Leger and the sprints

St Leger Festival (Doncaster): the oldest of the five British Classics, run over a mile and three-quarters.
Haydock Sprint Cup: a top sprint on a fast track.
Ayr Gold Cup: one of the big sprint handicaps of the season.

Doncaster Racecourse

October: British Champions Day

British Champions Day at Ascot is the finale of the Flat season, a day of Group 1 races with the best horses from the year. In 2026 it was run on Saturday 17 October.

The Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire at Newmarket are the great autumn handicaps, and the jumps season gets going again.

November and December: the winter jumps

Paddy Power Gold Cup (Cheltenham, November): the first big handicap chase of the season.
Betfair Chase (Haydock, November): the first big clue for the Gold Cup.
Hennessy Gold Cup (Newbury, late November or early December): one of the best-known handicap chases of the year.
Tingle Creek (Sandown, early December): the top two-mile chase before Christmas.
King George VI Chase (Kempton, Boxing Day): a key three-mile chase and a big Gold Cup pointer.

UK Horse Racing Calendar FAQ

When is the Cheltenham Festival in 2027? Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2027.

When is the Grand National in 2027? The Grand National Festival at Aintree runs from Thursday 8 to Saturday 10 April 2027, with the National itself on the Saturday.

When is Royal Ascot in 2027? Tuesday 15 to Saturday 19 June 2027.

When is the Derby in 2027? The Epsom Derby Festival is on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 June 2027, with the Derby on the Saturday.

What are the five British Classics? The 2000 Guineas, 1000 Guineas, Derby, Oaks and St Leger. All five are run over the course of a normal season, from Newmarket in spring to Doncaster in September.

When does the British jumps season run? From late October to April, with some jump racing through the summer.

World Racing Calendar