Hundreds of children are swapping their school for Cheltenham Racecourse

The children had the chance to see the famous Gold Cup up close and feed carrots to a former racehorse.

Jockey Daryl Jacobs recently celebrated 1,000 victories, 50 of which came at Cheltenham Racecourse.

He shared stories with the children and told them “there is no feeling in the world better than winning at Cheltenham”.

Mr Jacobs said it was great to see the children so “engaged and enthusiastic”.

The Year 5 students came from local schools including Oakwood, Dunalley, Saint John’s, Swindon Village, Woodmancote, Gloucester and Hester Way primary schools.

Frank, from Saint John’s, said: “The best thing was learning how many bones they (the jockeys) broke. They don’t care about their bones, they just want to have fun.”