https://theracelab.co.uk/tags/festival-review/Recent content in Festival Review on The Race LabHugoen-gbSat, 14 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000https://theracelab.co.uk/news/2026-03-14-cheltenham-festival-2026-year-of-the-outsider/Sat, 14 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000https://theracelab.co.uk/news/2026-03-14-cheltenham-festival-2026-year-of-the-outsider/<p>If you left Cheltenham on Friday evening with money in your pocket, you&rsquo;re in a very small minority.</p> <p>The 2026 Festival was, by the numbers, the worst for favourites backers in over a decade. We pulled every winner&rsquo;s starting price from our database going back to 2015, and this year&rsquo;s average winning SP of <strong>14.50</strong> is comfortably the highest we&rsquo;ve recorded. For context, 2024 — a year widely considered punter-friendly — averaged just 7.70.</p>