Racing: Cheltenham have given the 2009 Festival a fresh look with the announcement of a new running order and a first-race start time of 1.30pm.
The feature event on each of the four days - the Champion Hurdle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the World Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup - will be staged as the fourth race at 3.20pm.
The traditional 'get-out' stakes, the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle, will no longer bring down the curtain and will instead be staged as the second race on the Friday in order to ensure the Gold Cup remains the first event over fences that day.
The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase is now the final race of the meeting, while the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle moves to Tuesday from Friday and the Fred Winter is transferred from the opening day to Wednesday.
Two of the four days now stage seven-race cards, with a new conditional riders' hurdle race added to the meeting as the penultimate race on Friday.
Managing director Edward Gillespie said: "We are building on last year's experience (when racing on Wednesday was abandoned and Thursday hosted a 10-race card and Friday a nine-race fixture), when we raced earlier.
"We open the gates at 10.30am and for those not in hospitality there is a feeling of waiting for people to put down their coffee cups before racing could start.
"The earlier start will also help us to show five races a day live on Channel 4, and the 3.20pm start time for the biggest races will allow for a bigger build-up.
"The movement of the County Hurdle away from its slot as the final race of the Festival will give Gold Cup day a different feel, but we are still ending the Festival with two ultra-competitive handicaps."
Cheltenham also revealed the Paddy Power Gold Cup on November 15 and the boylesports.com Gold Cup on December 13 will have 48-hour declarations and reserves for the first time.