How to watch the 2025/26 National Hunt season for *FREE* — Cheltenham Festival, Grand National, Christmas Festival & More....

• Season opener begins in Carlisle, October 16.
• Watch jump season from Saturday on ITVX (UK restricted)
• Travelling outside the UK? Use NordVPN to unlock your ITVX account

The National Hunt curtain raises again this week as the jump season opener begins in Carlisle this Thursday. The season spans from mid-October through to late April/early May with an annual narrative arc revolving around Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown, there's an eagerness for this season to commence.

Make sure to catch your favourite horses as the likes of Jonbon, Constitution Hill, Galopin des Champs and Inothewayurthinkin return for 2025/26.

So how can you watch the National Hunt season on ITVX from wherever you are in the world? Is ITVX available as an app?

Here's our guide on how to watch the National Hunt season for free.

How to watch the National Hunt for free on ITVX

ITV's online streaming service, ITVX, will be broadcasting select jump races throughout the season, including major jump-racing festivals such as Cheltenham and the Grand National as well as their live Saturday racing coverage.

What's great about ITVX's coverage is that you don't even need an ITVX subscription to watch live racing, you just need a valid TV license and an email account and you're all good to go.

First time using ITVX? You can register for a free account or download the app to your mobile device.

Outside the UK for any racing? You can use NordVPN to reliably unlock your ITVX stream of the major racing festivals from anywhere in the world.

How to watch ITVX's racing coverage from anywhere

ITVX will only be broadcasting live racing this season to UK residents.

For racing fans travelling or working outside of the UK for this season's National Hunt, you will need a VPN to access ITVX's coverage.

There are many great VPN's on the market, but NordVPN is the one you can rely on to unlock ITVX's coverage of this season's National Hunt.

It's really simple to use a VPN to unblock your stream of ITVX's live racing this season.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're visiting Australia and want to watch your free ITVX stream, you'd select 'UK'.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to ITVX, sign in, and watch all this season's live racing.

What does ITVX's coverage include?

ITV Racing's broadcast covers both flat and jump (National Hunt) races. ITVX host live races, highlights and a full program so viewers can watch live online or catch up.

ITV's race coverage includes build up to all their covered events, post-race analysis offering excellent insight as well as feature segments and on-course reporting which will be available most Saturday's and some weekdays for big festivals.

ITV's jump racing team includes a mix of journalists, former jockeys, racing insiders and pundits. Ed Chamberlin leads the presenting team along side Francesca Cumani, with Mick Fitzgerald, Alice Plunkett and Luke Harvey contributing to analysis.

What devices is ITVX available on?

You can use ITVX on all of the following devices and platforms:

Amazon Fire (Tablets, Cube, Stick, TVs)
Android TV (please note: some models aren’t supported)
Android (Mobile & Tablet) - Android 7.0 and above
Apple TV (tvOS 14 or later)
Google TV (Chromecast with Google TV and NVIDIA Shield)
Freely
Freesat (please note: some models aren’t supported)
Freeview Play (TVs and set-top boxes) (please note: some models aren’t supported)
iOS (iPhone & iPad) - iOS 14 and above
LG Smart TVs (2016-2024)
NOW Smart Sticks and Boxes (minimum firmware v11.5.0)
PlayStation (PS4 and PS5)
Roku (Stick & Roku-OS powered TVs, minimum firmware v11.5.0)
Samsung Smart TVs (2017 and above - 2016 models only offer on demand TV)
Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream puck
Virgin Media (360, Stream, TiVo)
YouView (BT, Humax, Sony, TalkTalk)
Xbox (One, Series X, Series S)

What to expect from the Carlisle season opener?

It's that time of year again as the paddocks across the country spring back into life as the National Hunt begins on October 16 at Carlisle. The season opener is more than just a local meeting, it's the official start of the jumps campaign where hopes are renewed, strategies are implemented and many new faces come to the forefront.

For racing fans, Carlisle marks the start of all the drama that's yet to unfold across hurdles, steeplechases, National Hunt flat as well as novice and handicap races. However, at this stage of the season, we rarely see the big stars enter the fold, leaving the door open for rising stars to emerge onto the big stage.

Ones to watch in Carlisle:

Olly Murphy is a trainer who likes to take advantage of the early meetings and with a strong team this year, things look exciting.

Donald McCain is very dominant in the North of England, and is often is well equipped for the Carlisle races.

Paul Nicholls is looking likely to field a runner or two on a resurgence mission, testing out his young chasers on the big stage.

Harry Atkins is a jockey to keep your eye on as he looks to gain some invaluable experience in Cumbria this week.

National Hunt Meeting Schedule