AP McCoy to try his hand at dressage at Cheltenham this November

Racing legend Sir Anthony McCoy will receive a lesson from double Olympic medal-winning dressage rider Laura Tomlinson at Countryside Day (Friday November 15) at Cheltenham Racecourse next month.

As part of the traditional fundraising element of Countryside Day, AP McCoy will take dressage instruction from Laura, who won team gold and individual bronze at the London 2012 Olympics. Their demo – just part of a full day of country and equestrian fun - will take place at 11:45am, in the Parade Ring before racing.

Every year, Cheltenham Racecourse teams up with the Countryside Alliance to raise money on Countryside Day. Every four years, the fundraising also extends to Equestrian Team GBR to raise money to help with the expenses for the upcoming Olympics, which in 2020 take place in Tokyo. AP's dressage lesson is part of the fundraising element to the day, along with the silent auctions, a lunch, bucket collections and other fundraising initiatives.

Laura Tomlinson said: "I am very excited about giving AP a lesson on one of our homebred Grand Prix horses. It should be very entertaining seeing how he handles a very different type of power to what he is used to!"

Cheltenham Countryside Day is a firm favourite in the country calendar, with a full card of Jump racing, complemented by hounds, ferrets, gun dogs and fabulous shopping.

Gates open at 10.40am and the first of six high-quality races is at 12.30pm, with the feature event being the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase over the twists and turns of Cheltenham's unique cross-country course.

As befits the Olympic theme of the day, some of the UK's biggest equine names will parade at Cheltenham – including Nick Skelton's double Olympic gold-winning ride Big Star, Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin's incomparable twice gold-winner Valegro and William Fox-Pitt's Rio ride and Badminton winner Chilli Morning. From the Jump racing world, Sprinter Sacre will also be parading.

The big fundraising event will be the silent auction - which runs online at from 26 October and boasts some amazing lots, including money-can't buy bids donated by Equestrian Team GBR riders. Final bids will be taken on the day.

There will also be plenty of opportunity for Christmas shopping in the Cheltenham Shopping Village, where stalls will be selling everything from clothing and country sports equipment, to fine art, sculpture and jewellery.

Countryside Alliance members can take advantage of an exclusive members-only area beside the shopping village, where refreshments will be available to purchase and there will be plenty of seating and a shop and drop area.

For tickets, go to the Cheltenham Racecourse website.