The thrills and spills of the Festival continued on St Patrick’s Thursday as Cheltenham celebrated all things green and gold.

Teahupoo was beaten by 33/1 outsider Home By The Less in the first of the day’s two feature races — The Stayers’ Hurdle — while Heart Wood won the Ryanair Chase after odds-on favourite Fact To File’s late withdrawal.

Catch up with all the action, as it happened, here.

– St Patrick’s Thursday results, race times, weather, odds, favourites, more
– Cheltenham Festival explained: dates, races, how to watch, prize money, more
– Prestbury Cup at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival: Score, winners, standings

With crowds up and the Guinness prices down (coincidence?) this year’s Cheltenham Festival has delighted hundreds of thousands of punters.

Other than some wet and windy weather, Thursday was no different as British- and Irish-trained horses continue to battle for supremacy at the Festival in what has been a narrow Prestbury Cup contest so far.

Thursday brought the delights of both the leading long-distance race on the National Hunt calendar, The Stayers’ Hurdle, as well as the 2-mile 4½ -furlong Ryanair Chase for which Fact To File was the odds-on favourite before his withdrawal.

Elsewhere on the card, races such as the Pertemps Final and the Paddy Power Plate offered huge fields and competitive betting markets.

Now, it’s time to look forward to the Festival’s highlight, Gold Cup Day, as the racing world finds out who is the next winner of the world’s most prestigious steeplechase.