At 66p per punter, policing costs aren't mere coppers

THE Cheltenham Festival's "ring of steel" with armed police costs the local force 66p per racegoer - far less than the £1.33 per punter at Aintree's Grand National, a study has found.

- By Chris Riches

Visitors to the famous four-day festival in Gloucestershire are greeted with stewards and bag searches while officers with guns patrol the crowd.

In recent years race meetings have attracted protests, culminating in 2023 when more than 100 animal rights activists stormed the Aintree course on Merseyside-disrupting the start of the Grand National.

Now the true cost of hosting the Cheltenham Festival has been revealed in a Freedom of Information request sent to Gloucestershire Constabulary by tips site The Winners Enclosure in its bid to find the safest racecourses in Britain.