The Cheltenham Festival originated from the annual 'National Hunt Meeting' which first took place in Market Harborough in 1860, featuring the National Hunt Steeplechase.
This nomadic meeting was held at different venues across the UK, selected each year by the National Hunt Committee, including at Prestbury Park in 1904 and 1905.
A former medieval deer park, 'three fields' within Prestbury Park had first been used for flat racing from 1831 to 1834.
It also hosted steeplechases from 1848 until 1854 - when the land was sold to a new owner opposed to racing.
But in 1881 the Prestbury Park estate was bought by William Baring Bingham and racing finally returned from 1898, with an official two-day meeting in April 1902.
The 'Cheltenham Steeplechase Company' was formed in late 1907, and Frederick Cathcart made clerk of the course.
Under his guidance, various improvements were made to the track and facilities, including a new grandstand in 1908.
When it again played host to the National Hunt Meeting in 1911, the substantial changes made to the racecourse helped ensure it would remain a permanent home of the Festival.
NOTABLE EVENTS
The meeting was extended to three days in 1923, with the Gold Cup added in 1924 and the Champion Hurdle in 1927.
The entire Cheltenham Festival was abandoned in 1931 due to frozen ground, while in 1937 heavy rain and snow meant that the final day was lost, with no Gold Cup run.
From 1940 to 1942 the Festival was reduced to two days and held on successive Saturdays in 1942, due to wartime restrictions.
There was no Festival at all from 1943 to 1945, but in 1945 a Cheltenham Gold Cup and a Champion Hurdle were run, two weeks apart, on Saturday meetings at Cheltenham.
The Festival was again abandoned due to frost in 1947 with five principal races ran instead at the 'Spring Meeting' in April.
And the same fate befell the final day in 1949, with just the Gold Cup moved to April.
The second two days of the 1951 Festival were cancelled due to flooding, with various major races again run in April.
In 1954 the first live television coverage of the Cheltenham Festival took place on the BBC, with Peter O'Sullevan commentating.
Snow meant that the second day of the 1955 Festival was abandoned just 20 minutes before the gates were due to be opened.
The 'National Hunt Two-Mile Champion Chase' was established in 1959, which was renamed the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 1980.
In November 1964 the course was purchased by the Racecourse Holdings Trust, seeing off a real threat from property developers (and talk of the Festival moving to Sandown).
That consortium was headed by Johnny Henderson, father of current trainer Nicky.
The ‘New’ Course, which runs in a wider arch than the original, was first used in 1967.
In 1975 the first day of the Festival was lost due to a waterlogged course and the final three races after the Gold Cup were also abandoned due to the atrocious conditions.
While in 1978 the third day was cancelled due to snow, with the Triumph Hurdle and Gold Cup run instead in April.
The main grandstand overlooking the winning post was completed in 1979 and the parade ring with terraced viewing, plus the weighing room, were added in 1982.
And in 1995 the idiosyncratic Cross Country Course was added to the infield.
In 2001 the Festival was cancelled due to an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth epidemic.
Another day was added in 2005, with five new races introduced, while further races added since means that there are now a total of 28 - compared to 12 back in 1911.
Although known as the Cheltenham Festival for many years, its official name remained the National Hunt Festival until 2005, when 'National Hunt' was removed from the name.
In 2008 the second day of the Festival was abandoned due to high winds, with those six races rescheduled to extended cards on the Thursday and Friday.