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The Cheltenham Festival is the most prestigious meeting in the National Hunt Racing calendar in the United Kingdom and has race prize money second only to the Grand National . It is an event where many of the best British and Irish trained horses race against each other, the extent of which is relatively rare during the rest of the season. It takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham , Gloucestershire . Because of the nation's horses and the fact it usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day , the meeting is often very popular with Irish visitors. Huge amounts of money are bet, with hundreds of millions of Pounds being gambled over the four days and so the Festival is often noted for its atmosphere, most notably the "Cheltenham roar", which refers to the enormous amount of noise that the crowd generates as the horses enter the home straight and long run in. In 2001 the Festival was cancelled due an outbreak of Foot And Mouth Disease in Britain. The Festival was traditionally run over the course of three days, but this changed in 2005 with the introduction of a fourth day. There are 24 races overall, with Grade One events including the Champion Bumper , Triumph Hurdle , Supreme Novices' Hurdle , Ballymore Properties Novices' Hurdle , Arkle Challenge Trophy , Royal & SunAlliance Chase , Champion Hurdle , World Hurdle , Queen Mother Champion Chase and the feature race, the Cheltenham Gold Cup . CRITICISMS For several years there have been concerns about the high number of injuries and fatalities to horses. This was brought to a head in 2006 when 11 horses were killed. In response the racecourse decreased the number of runners in certain races and resited one of the more difficult fences. However, some Animal Rights groups do not accept that this is sufficient. Unfortunately on the first day of the 2007 Festival, "Little Brick" - the ante-post favourite for the Grand National - was killed in an accident after jumping a fence. {Link without Title} . Two days later "Swift Thyne" was killed after unseating his rider. TOP JOCKEYS The top jockey for the festival is the jockey who wins the most races over the four days. The winners since 1980 with wins in brackets are:
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