The jockey turned broadcaster on why the 2026 Festival was the best in decades and why he’s grateful for his career – despite the concussions.
Watch the full chat with Luke Harvey below:
Luke Harvey has been attending The Cheltenham Festival for decades. As a jockey he rode winners on the world-famous Prestbury Park course and as a broadcaster he’s covered many editions of what many aficionados rate the number one jump racing event in the world.
So when Harvey, who lives in The Cotswolds, says the 2026 edition was stellar, we should take notice.
“It was one of the best Cheltenhams. In fact, I’d say for the last 20 years it’s as good a Cheltenham as I’ve been to. There are certain areas that still need improving, but people were looked after. The atmosphere was really good. The racing was really competitive,” Harvey told Sport and Life.
“And as far as the sporting event, it sounds stupid because it’s nothing to do with me, but I thought it was much, much better than it had been and it was in decline the last five years.”
Harvey pointed to the amenities for punters as a example of the improvement and the competitiveness of the sport. For the eighth straight year Willie Mullins was top trainer and 13th time overall, but Harvey says the Irishman didn’t have it all his own way.
“You can’t penalise success. But on the other side of it, if someone has too much success it gets boring. And we got a bit of that with local trainers Kim Bailey and Matt Nichols having a big price winner, Tom Bellamy’s first Cheltenham winner.
“I think even if you’re not a dyed-in-the-wool racing fan, you could have gone there and had a really good time. And I think that is probably the benchmark.”
The attendance numbers appeared to back up Harvey’s read of it. Visitor numbers were up 3.7% on 2025.
One tactic that seemed to prove inviting was dropping the price of alcohol. More than 400,000 pints of Guinness were downed over the four days of racing so the 30p drop in price per pint equates to a large chunk of change given back to punters.
Some national newspapers ran articles questioning the booziness of the event and the behaviour of some of those who were boozed up – on site but also on the trains and buses that descend on Cheltenham from all corners of the UK.
But Harvey says you have to be careful not to be too puritanical with people bringing so much money to the local area.
“If you’re going there on a day out, why shouldn’t you go and have a drink? Of course there were people having a drink. Like every other single sporting event.
“But what was good, there’s been a change. Guy Lavender’s taken over on the top table now and he’s running the show. The people who were the general admission people were well looked after, they were starting to feel they were getting value for money.”
Sadly, four horses – Hansard, HMS Seahorse, Envoi Allen and Saint Le Fort – died racing at the 2026 festival prompting the RSPCA to release a statement demanding ‘lessons must be learned.’
And when it comes to learning lessons, increasingly there are voices concerned for the safety of all sports professionals engaged in activities that can lead to brain trauma.
Classically, we think of sports like boxing, rugby and heading footballs in this context, but Harvey says head injuries are a common hazard for jump jockeys – though they’re better looked after than in his day.
“Blimey O’Reilly, we used to have a medical record book and if you had a fall and you’d be knocked out you used to get a red entry in that book and then you couldn’t ride again until the doctor examined you and put you fit to ride again.
“I look back at this book and it scared me to count how many red entries I’d had. We used to laugh about concussion.
“But I can remember once riding in a race and I’d said to the doctor I was absolutely fine. And because people were more blasé about it, I went out, got down to the start and I was asking the other jockeys ‘what sort of race? Where are we?’ I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.”
It’s clear that a lot of sports carry risks. But they also bring huge rewards and Harvey maintains an air of warm gratitude for the opportunity to ride in races and then report on them for ITV, Sky Sports and others.
“I left school at 16, I’ve got no qualifications as far as even being a handyman. I’m useless. I just can’t do anything unless it involves horses.
“I feel privileged that I earned a living out of sport. I was an average jockey. I rode a winner at the festival and at Aintree. So I did okay, but you know, if it weren’t for that I wouldn’t be talking to you now, I wouldn’t have the wonderful life that I’ve got.
“I never wanted to be anything other than a jockey and then I never even thought or dreamt of going into broadcasting.”
Harvey is ever self-deprecating and subtly attempts to convey the impression that both his success in the saddle and with a microphone have been a happy accident.
In reality though he’s shown extreme dedication and self-awareness to excel in both – he began broadcasting whilst still racing to create a transition into the second half of his life.
But he makes a cogent point that life after professional sport can be a bleak time for even the most focussed people. Although he believes jockeys are now given a helping hand in building a second career.
“So many people I know haven’t found happiness after their sport because it meant so much to them. Luckily racing is doing much more. There’s an organisation called Jet Jockeys that helps people to train further.
But it’s finding what is suitable for that particular person. It’s difficult to find something, a second career, whatever you do in life, but particularly as a sportsman when it’s been your life, your soul.”
