Cheltenham Festival organisers are taking the next step this year to crack down on drugs – with sniffer dogs, search teams and ‘amnesty bins’ stationed at gates.
Drug use has long been an issue at the races, with shameful substance problems at times overtaking the fun of the horse racing.
But it’s no secret – with jokes about white powder often being cracked.
And Wednesday was no different when the festival was given a sprinkling of snow.
‘Snow… Cheltenham. Perfect combination,’ chuckled one, with a GIF of the actor Sam Rockwell giving a knowing wink. Another wrote: ‘Gonna be some fun there today… it’s usually only snowing in the stands.’
Others were less subtle. ‘It’s snowing in Cheltenham, and I don’t mean the snow punters are usually accustomed to on the back of toilet cisterns and credit cards,’ weighed in another X user. There were surprisingly few jokes about nosebags.
It’s an open secret that Britain’s racing festivals have been plagued by drug use in recent years, particularly cocaine: in 2018, MailSport uncovered evidence of powder at Newbury and York racecourses and the problem has only worsened from there.
Cheltenham’s Gold Cup steeplechase is regarded as one of the most prestigious events in horse racing – the Blue Riband of horse races, say course owners the Jockey Club.
Cheltenham Racecourse was draped in a blanket of snow on Wednesday morning – prompting immediate knowing jokes from fans about racegoers’ drug use
Cheltenham is fighting back against concerns over drug use with sniffer dogs as well as amnesty bins into which punters can surrender drugs without fear of punishment
A MailOnline photographer captured footage of a well-dressed racegoer being identified as potentially carrying drugs by a sniffer dog. He appeared to be escorted off the grounds
But the festival’s reputation has been marred in recent years by scenes of aggression among otherwise well-turned-out racegoers thought to be high on booze and cocaine.
Horse trainer Charlie Brooks last year pinned the blame on marching powder, branding the scraps a ‘Peaky Blinders’ problem after the Cillian Murphy series about a group of drug-taking, horse-racing gangsters in Birmingham.
Brooks, also a former jockey, claimed the atmosphere at the festival was being ruined by ‘aggressive’ groups of young men on cocaine.
He laid some of the blame for falling attendance numbers on the increasing regularity of scraps bringing down an event typically graced with the presence of royals (and this year is no exception, with Queen Camilla on fine fettle on Wednesday).
Writing for the Telegraph last year, Brooks – husband of News UK CEO Rebekah – claimed cocaine had ‘completely changed the atmosphere at the Cheltenham Festival since the pandemic’.
‘There is a whole world of difference between the boisterous behaviour of those who have had a few pints and the aggressive persona of groups of young men taking cocaine,’ he wrote, comparing them to Tommy Shelby’s gang of horse racing thugs.
Noting that it wasn’t Cheltenham’s ‘fault’, but rather endemic of a ‘widespread society issue’, the former jockey added that it ‘needs to acknowledge this and try to come up with a solution if it wants to stop its core audience shrinking further’.
‘I have no idea whether sniffer dogs outside the gates of a racecourse are either efficient at detecting drugs or an effective deterrent, but the presence of an odd dog here and there feels like too little, too late,’ he said.
A man in a blue suit appears to be escorted out of Cheltenham Racecourse by members of security in blue jackets, alongside a sniffer dog and its handlers
Amnesty bins for drugs at the entrance to Cheltenham Racecourse, flanked by burly security staff in blue jackets
The scenes of unseasonal snow at Cheltenham on Wednesday provoked an outpouring of jokes and memes about drug use on social media
He isn’t alone: a TripAdvisor review from March 2023, in the wake of that year’s festival, noted: ‘The amount of drug taking in the toilets is unbelievable.’
Attendance at this year’s event is expected to be down for the third year running, the track’s chief executive Guy Lavender – a former British Army officer and one-time CEO of Marylebone Cricket Club – has admitted.
Lavender said this week that he expected ‘fewer racegoers’ in attendance compared to previous years. Attendance at Cheltenham last year was 229,999 – down 18 per cent from a record-breaking 280,627 in 2022.
Lavender would be no more specific than to say more than 200,000 are expected across the four days of 2025’s Festival. The decline is not ‘catastrophic’, he said – but will be a decline nevertheless.
The course boss, who was appointed in January, has lined up a review of what can be done to improve attendance at the course year-round – much of which he pins on the price of hotels and accomodation during the festival.
But others believe the increasingly loutish behaviour of some attendees needs greater attention – that, and the £7.80 punters are charged for a pint of trendy Guinness (with 40p taken off for its alcohol-free cousin).
‘I went to the 100th Cheltenham gold cup last year…Wish I didn’t,’ one attendee said on X in response to an open letter from Lavender shared at the weekend.
‘The drug takers had blocked up the toilets, 4-5 in a cubicle. What’s drugs got to do with horseracing?’
Cheltenham is, however, already fighting back. This year sees a landfill’s worth of amnesty bins at the entrances for those who are ready to give up their drugs without a fight – and sniffer dogs and beefed-up security for those who aren’t.
MailOnline photographers captured them at work – appearing to escort a young man, dressed to the nines in a blue suit, out of the complex after cornering him in the toilets, a sniffer dog’s tail wagging enthusiastically.
A spokesperson for the racecourse confirmed that the man was ejected for possession of drugs.
Another man in a green jacket was seen being patted down, their pockets turned out, while a search dog lingered nearby. He was ultimately let on his way.
Organisers say they are ‘actively targeting’ those trying to sell drugs on site – even as tests at other racecourses carried out last year suggest cocaine is still getting past the gates at major events.
GB News found traces of cocaine in bathroom cubicles at Epsom, while the Telegraph‘s swabs at the Grand National last April also came back positive, suggesting the problem may be ubiquitous across the racing calendar.
As one fan noted on social media: ‘It’s a epidemic.. rife at most sports events. I’ll give Cheltenham some credit though: in January they had sniffer dogs outside the toilets, so they know it’s a problem and they’re trying to address it.’
A man in a blue suit appeared to be escorted off of the premises accompanied by security staff and a sniffer dog
Punters have claimed toilet cubicles at Cheltenham are occupied by four or five people at a time engaged in drug use. There is no suggestion the individuals in this picture use drugs
A 2023 TripAdvisor review by a festival-goer criticised the ‘unbelievable…amount of drug taking’ in the facilities
Race trainer Charlie Brooks – pictured at Cheltenham in 2012 – has blamed cocaine for the rise in violent scraps at horse racing events
The Racecourse Association (RCA) acknowledged as long ago as 2019 that drug use at festivals was a growing problem, following outrageous scenes of brawls at celebrated events such as Ascot and Haydock.
Bookies told the Guardian then of ‘men snorting cocaine in front of’ their pitches and of finding small plastic bags nearby – blaming the drug for scenes of aggression.
The RCA said then that ‘the presence of illegal substances is a trend which continues to rise across all major spectator events’ – but there’s no sign of it going away.
A spokesperson told MailOnline today that it still ‘acknowledge(s) the wider societal issue with illegal substance abuse which all major leisure/sports venues unfortunately encounter when welcoming the numbers (of spectators) we do.’
Drug users make up a ‘very small fraction’ of the five million racegoers its members welcome each year, the spokesperson said.
They added: ‘Together with our colleagues across British racing, the RCA condemns any illegal substance abuse on a racecourse and supports the zero tolerance approach our members take in handling any incidents involving them.’
However, the anti-social issues plaguing Cheltenham are unlikely to resolve themselves without tougher intervention from organisers and police.
Last year, women living in Cheltenham told the Mail that they considered the town a ‘no-go zone’ during the Festival because of the drunken and misogynistic abuse they would receive from racegoers.
Revellers were criticised for urinating and vomiting in the streets after-hours – some of them on the way home from the ‘pop-up’ strip clubs that crop up in the spa town for evening ‘entertainment’.
A man is searched at Cheltenham Racecourse on Wednesday. This man was allowed on his way after nothing suspicious was found
A violent bust-up at Haydock Park in Merseyside in 2019. Race authorities said back then they would take a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to anti-social behaviour but the problem persists
Cheltenham crowds on Wednesday. The course’s CEO Guy Lavender appears to have suggested the festival’s attendance will be lower in 2025 than in previous years
Cheltenham Festival has vowed a zero tolerance attitude to drug use this week (pictured: a sniffer dog on the concourse at the course)
Cheltenham MP Max Wilkinson told ITV News this week he believed the temporary nude bars were putting women and girls ‘at risk’.
Local student Evie Tallon told the broadcaster: ‘Men ask me for my number, men in their 70s think I’ll be flattered by them shouting at me and making remarks about my body, it makes me feel sick.’
‘(One year) I watched a man ask a girl to take off her top for £50 and that just made me feel gross.’
Gloucestershire Police says it will be carrying out ‘high visibility patrols’ to tackle violence against women and girls, and boosting its overall presence in the town for the duration of the Festival.
The force said ahead of the event: ‘We will not tolerate anyone with illegal substances and those found with drugs will be dealt with appropriately and proportionately. This could include being evicted from the site and arrested.’
A spokesperson for Cheltenham Racecourse told MailOnline today: ‘It’s fantastic that so many people are able to join us at Cheltenham throughout the week and our focus is on putting on the best possible event and giving all racegoers and participants safe, enjoyable and memorable experiences.
‘We have no reason to expect anything but responsible behaviour from our racegoers and we have a clear code of conduct for attendees. We take a zero tolerance approach to all forms of antisocial behaviour, including illegal substances.
‘As part of this approach we have a range of measures in place including detection dogs, bag search and pat-downs in operation at entrances, and amnesty bins.
‘Anyone found to be attempting to access the site in possession of illegal substances will be denied entry, given no refund on their ticket purchase and be reported to the police.’
