The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the blue riband of National Hunt racing — a Grade 1 chase over about 3 miles 2½ furlongs on the Friday of the Festival. Best Mate, Kauto Star, Denman and Galopin Des Champs have all had their names etched into the race’s history.
Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | Age | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Inothewayurthinkin | Gavin Cromwell | M P Walsh | 7 | 15/2 |
| 2024 | Galopin Des Champs | W P Mullins | P Townend | 8 | 10/11 |
| 2023 | Galopin Des Champs | W P Mullins | P Townend | 7 | 7/5 |
| 2022 | A Plus Tard | Henry de Bromhead | R Blackmore | 8 | 3/1 |
| 2021 | Minella Indo | Henry de Bromhead | J W Kennedy | 8 | 9/1 |
| 2020 | Al Boum Photo | W P Mullins | P Townend | 8 | 100/30 |
| 2019 | Al Boum Photo | W P Mullins | P Townend | 7 | 12/1 |
| 2018 | Native River | C L Tizzard | R Johnson | 8 | 5/1 |
| 2017 | Sizing John | Mrs J Harrington | R Power | 7 | 7/1 |
| 2016 | Don Cossack | Gordon Elliott | B J Cooper | 9 | 9/4 |
Key Trends
Age profile: Eight-year-olds have an outstanding record — 10 wins from 20 renewals, exactly half. Seven-year-olds have won 5 times and nine-year-olds 4 times. Long Run’s win at 6 in 2011 is the youngest in our dataset. Nothing older than 9 has won since Best Mate’s third victory in 2004.
Favourite record: The favourite has won 11 of 20 renewals (55%), the highest strike rate of any Festival race in our data. They’ve placed 16 times from 20. The average favourite SP is about 2/1. If the market speaks clearly, listen.
Trainers: Mullins has 4 wins from 34 runners. Nicholls has 3 from 31, Henderson 2 from 17, and de Bromhead 2 from 12. Miss Henrietta Knight’s 2 wins were both Best Mate.
Going: A fairly even split — 7 editions on Good, 7 on Good to Soft, 5 on Soft, and 1 on Heavy (Galopin Des Champs in 2024). The Gold Cup gets whatever it gets and the best horse tends to cope.
What the Data Says
The Gold Cup is the race at the Festival where form is most reliable. A 55% favourite strike rate is remarkable for a 3m2f championship chase — it tells you the cream rises. The average winning OR of 169 is the highest of any Festival race, confirming that only genuinely top-class staying chasers win this.
The eight-year-old trend is strong enough to take seriously. Half of all winners have been that age. Seven-year-olds are the next best, with 5 wins. If you’re looking at a six-year-old or a ten-year-old, history says you need a very good reason to side with them.
Repeat winners are a feature: Best Mate won twice in our sample (three times overall), Al Boum Photo won back-to-back, and Galopin Des Champs managed it in 2023-24. Kauto Star also won twice (2007 and 2009). If the defending champion comes back fit, the data suggests taking them seriously.
The average winning SP of about 5/1 is lower than most Festival races, reinforcing that this isn’t a race for big-priced shocks. The longest-priced winner is Lord Windermere at 20/1 in 2014, and that took a photo finish.
All Cheltenham Festival races are run at Cheltenham racecourse. See our Cheltenham course guide for trainer and jockey statistics, going analysis, and betting angles.