Cheltenham expects to ride slump with £300m betting spree

Liz Hurley and Zara Phillips arrived today at the Cheltenham Festival, where punters are expected to wager more than £300 million despite the recession.

Hurley and Phillips, the Queen's granddaughter and a champion horse rider, joined racegoers for the four-day highlight of the racing season.

More than 200,000 people are expected to attend this week, with bookies hoping for bumper punts on the week's 26 races. Jockeys, owners and trainers will vie for a record £3.56 million prize money.

Racegoers are expected to drink 220,000 pints of Guinness, 20,000 bottles of champagne and 30,000 bottles of wine over the week.

Cheltenham's organisers admit ticket sales have been slower than usual. Corporate bookings are also down 10 per cent.

Cheltenham managing director, Edward Gillespie, said: "We're definitely getting fewer bookings and for a shorter period although we're not getting any distress signals from hotels or the bed and breakfast sector, which all feel as strong as ever."

The course ground is said to be good to soft, perfect for jump racing, after much rain over the past two weeks. The Queen will be watching her horse Barbers Shop in Friday's showpiece Gold Cup.

He is expected to attract strong interest but defending champion Denman will be hard to beat.