Cheltenham Gold Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Cheltenham Festival)

Delve into the illustrious history of jump racing's blue riband event. Examine trends of past winners, analyze dominant stables, and uncover key statistics. Gain insights into this gruelling 3-mile chase that crowns the sport's ultimate champion.
Cheltenham Gold Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Cheltenham Festival)
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup Preview

A Grade One chase run over three miles two and a half furlongs, the Cheltenham Gold Cup features the best UK and Irish-trained chasers, the race has also been won by French raiders in the past.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a true test of a chaser, key attributes required are the ability to jump fluently (those that are prone to fencing errors tend to get found out), tactical race speed as the Gold Cup is usually run at a quicker pace than most chases run over a similar distance, stamina to see out the race distance and uphill finish and the ability to act on the undulating track that Cheltenham offers.

Elevate your Cheltenham Gold Cup betting game using our thorough examination of historical race trends and trainer stats, then capitalize on the Cheltenham betting offers.

Cheltenham Gold Cup Information:

Our dedicated Cheltenham tips page will not only bring you predictions from the OLBG racing tipsters for the upcoming card that includes the Cheltenham Gold Cup but will also have predictions for each meeting at Cheltenham throughout the season so be sure to head over there. We cover every race at the Cheltenham Festival and below you can find links to all of the races for each of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday.

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How competitive is the Cheltenham Gold Cup market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2022 when the race had an over-round of 112%. The race in 2006 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 126%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the over-round has been 118%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £118 which is bet.

Below you will find the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup Trends, see which patterns have occurred over the recent renewals that you may be able to use for the next renewal, we also have a section that looks at the Cheltenham Gold Cup Trend Analysis.

These are the top three quickest-run Cheltenham Gold Cup over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Long Run (6:29.70) in 2011
  2. War Of Attrition (6:31.70) in 2006
  3. Don Cossack (6:35.00) in 2016

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup next time out then you would have backed a total of 6 winners. Backing all 19 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -9.43. Whilst we wait for the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup remember you can get daily racing predictions from the expert tipsters on the racing predictions page.

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 6:29.70 was set by Long Run in 2011, which is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Mr Sam Waley-Cohen. The slowest winning time was set in 2024 when Galopin Des Champs won in a time of 7:05.14, booked to ride was Paul Townend by the trainer W P Mullins.

What the expert says...
The Irish have taken control of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the last six winners all came having run in Ireland last time out, in fact, since 2012, all bar three ran in Ireland before coming here, the only three exceptions running at Sandown with two of those in the Denman Chase.

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Cheltenham Gold Cup 2025
Latest odds at Feb 7, 2025
Tap or mouseover chart elements for more info. Pinch to zoom.
Selection Probability Odds
1 Galopin Des Champs 66.7% 1.50
2 Fact To File 14.3% 7.00
3 Banbridge 11.1% 9.00
4 Corbetts Cross 6.7% 15.00
5 Grangeclare West 5.9% 17.00

Cheltenham Gold Cup Past Winners

Here are the Cheltenham Gold Cup past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorseInfo
2024
7:05.14
Galopin Des Champs (FR)
8yo 11-10 10/11F
Paul Townend
W P Mullins (IRE)
2023
6:45.46
Galopin Des Champs (FR)
7yo 11-10 7/5F
Paul Townend
W P Mullins (IRE)
2022
6:41.75
A Plus Tard (FR)
8yo 11-10 3/1F
Rachael Blackmore
Henry De Bromhead (IRE)
2021
6:45.35
Minella Indo (IRE)
8yo 11-10 9/1
Jack Kennedy
Henry De Bromhead (IRE)
2020
6:50.38
Al Boum Photo (FR)
8yo 11-10 100/30F
Paul Townend
W P Mullins (IRE)
2019
6:39.06
Al Boum Photo (FR)
7yo 11-10 12/1
Paul Townend
W P Mullins (IRE)
2018
7:02.60
Native River (IRE)
8yo 11-10 5/1
Richard Johnson
Colin Tizzard (GB)
2017
6:36.10
Sizing John (GB)
7yo 11-10 7/1
Robbie Power
Mrs John Harrington (IRE)
2016
6:35.00
Don Cossack (GER)
9yo 11-10 9/4F
B J Cooper
Gordon Elliott (IRE)
2015
6:42.50
Coneygree (GB)
8yo 11-10 7/1
Nico de Boinville
Mark Bradstock (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Cheltenham Gold Cup have been based:

  • IRE: 11 winners with an additional 15 placings from 85 runners
  • GB: 9 winners with an additional 25 placings from 179 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 7 runners

Cheltenham Gold Cup Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Cheltenham Gold Cup over the last 20 renewals is W P Mullins who has won the race four times with those four winners coming from Al Boum Photo (2019 & 2020) and Galopin Des Champs (2023 & 2024). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Cheltenham Gold Cup are Paul Nicholls (3 wins), Nicky Henderson (2 wins) and Henry De Bromhead (2 wins). There is one trainer who has not had the best of times in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Venetia Williams has sent a total of 11 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top Cheltenham Gold Cup trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
W P Mullins33-4-11-11.36-12.99
Paul Nicholls36-3-10-27.75-21.75
Nicky Henderson15-2-6-6.75-5.83
Henry De Bromhead11-2-4+3.00+0.23
Jonjo O'Neill9-1-4+0.00+0.10
Nigel Twiston-Davies8-1-2+0.00-2.30
Gordon Elliott8-1-3-4.75-1.80
M F Morris4-1-1+4.50+0.75
Mark Bradstock4-1-1+4.00+0.50
Mrs John Harrington2-1-1+6.00+3.20

Cheltenham Gold Cup Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Cheltenham Gold Cup over the last 20 renewals is Paul Townend who has won the race four times with those four winners coming from Al Boum Photo (2019 & 2020) and Galopin Des Champs (2023 & 2024).

Here are some of the top Cheltenham Gold Cup jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Paul Townend12-4-5+9.64+2.11
Nico de Boinville7-1-3+1.00-0.60
Rachael Blackmore5-1-2-1.00-1.37
Jack Kennedy4-1-2+6.00+3.55
Mr P W Mullins7-0-0-7.00-7.00
Charlie Deutsch5-0-0-5.00-5.00
Sam Twiston-Davies5-0-0-5.00-5.00
Harry Cobden4-0-1-4.00-2.90
Nick Scholfield4-0-0-4.00-4.00
Mattie Batchelor3-0-0-3.00-3.00

Should We Avoid The Veterans in the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

One of the regular trends for the Gold Cup each year is the seemingly poor recent record of horses aged ten and above. Cool Dawn’s 25/1 victory in 1998 was the last time a horse in that age group recorded a win.

These statistics seem to suggest that older horses are unlikely to be winning in 2025 but is that the case?

Ten-year-old On His Own was beaten just a short-head by Lord Windermere in 2010 and Denman (twice), Kauto Star and Mon Mome were all placed in the Gold Cup when ten or older.

Cue Card was ten years old when contesting the 2016 renewal and looked all set to be involved in the finish before taking a bad fall at the third last fence.

The latest to pick up a place was Corach Rambler who was finishing strong to finish third in the 2024 renewal of the Gold Cup.

The reality of the actual numbers for horses aged ten or over since 1999 is as follows:

  • 87 have competed
  • 0 have won
  • 9 have been placed
  • 29 failed to complete
  • 46 completed but outside places
  • 31 were priced at 50/1 or above
  • 11 at 5/1 or shorter: PU, 4, 13, 11, F, 2, PU, 3, PU, F, F

Cheltenham Gold Cup Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +14.14 is when runners were 1st in the betting market.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 0 career wins in the class, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-117.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup is Leopardstown, there has been a total number of 8 winners of this race who ran at Leopardstown last time out. The next best course which has produced the second most winners is Newbury, there has been a total number of 5 winners of this race who ran at Newbury last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 20 winners from a total of 270 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 1 runner.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup:

  • Bucks Boum (2 Wins)
  • Presenting (2 Wins)
  • Timos (2 Wins)
  • Village Star (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup despite multiple attempts:

  • Saint Des Saints (0 Wins from 8 runners)
  • Dom Alco (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Kayf Tara (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Kings Theatre (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Milan (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Lord Windermere in 2014, winning for J H Culloty at odds of 20/1 under the guidance of Davy Russell. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 10 winning favourites in the race. Whilst we wait for the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup remember you can get daily racing predictions from the top racing tipsters on the best racing tipsters page.

Route to the Cheltenham Gold Cup

Many trainers will target races to use as prep races before coming to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, these are the races which the recent winners ran in before coming here:

InfoLast Race
2024 - Galopin Des Champs
Leopardstown - 1st of 4 (1/3)
Irish Gold Cup
2023 - Galopin Des Champs
Leopardstown - 1st of 7 (3/10)
Irish Gold Cup
2022 - A Plus Tard
Leopardstown - 2nd of 8 (8/11)
Savills Chase
2021 - Minella Indo
Leopardstown - 4th of 5 (13/8)
Irish Gold Cup
2020 - Al Boum Photo
Tramore - 1st of 4 (4/7)
Savills New Years Day Chase
2019 - Al Boum Photo
Tramore - 1st of 7 (2/1)
Savills New Years Day Chase
2018 - Native River
Newbury - 1st of 3 (8/11)
Denman Chase
2017 - Sizing John
Leopardstown - 1st of 7 (10/3)
Irish Gold Cup
2016 - Don Cossack
Thurles - 1st of 4 (1/7)
Horse and Jockey Hotel Chase
2015 - Coneygree
Newbury - 1st of 6 (15/8)
Denman Chase

Schedule for Tuesday at the Cheltenham Festival

Prepare for the ROAR of the Cheltenham Festival on the opening day when the tape goes up for the Supreme Novices Hurdle, the feature on Tuesday is the Champion Hurdle.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Cheltenham
Supreme Novices Hurdle
Slade Steel (IRE)
6yo - 7/2
Henry De Bromhead
Rachael Blackmore
14:00 Cheltenham
Arkle Challenge Trophy
Gaelic Warrior (GER)
6yo - 2/1
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
14:40 Cheltenham
Ultima Handicap Chase
Chianti Classico (IRE)
7yo - 6/1
Kim Bailey
David Bass
15:20 Cheltenham
Close Brothers Mares Hurdle
Lossiemouth (FR)
5yo - 8/13
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
16:00 Cheltenham
Champion Hurdle
State Man (FR)
7yo - 2/5
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
16:40 Cheltenham
Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle
Lark In The Mornin (GER)
4yo - 9/1
Joseph Patrick O'Brien
J J Slevin
17:20 Cheltenham
National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup
Corbetts Cross (IRE)
7yo - 15/8
Emmet Mullins
Mr Derek O'Connor

Schedule for Wednesday at the Cheltenham Festival

The dust has settled on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival and now on to day two. The feature on the second day is the Queen Mother Champion Chase. We also have the cross country scheduled on Wednesday, a race like Marmite, some love it and some don't!

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Cheltenham
Turners Novices Hurdle
Ballyburn (IRE)
6yo - 1/2
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
14:00 Cheltenham
Brown Advisory Novices Chase
Fact To File (FR)
7yo - 8/13
W P Mullins
Mark Walsh
14:40 Cheltenham
Coral Cup
Langer Dan (IRE)
8yo - 13/2
Dan Skelton
Harry Skelton
15:20 Cheltenham
Cross Country Chase
Delta Work (FR)
10yo - 11/10
Gordon Elliott
Keith Donoghue
16:00 Cheltenham
Queen Mother Champion Chase
Captain Guinness (IRE)
9yo - 17/2
Henry De Bromhead
Rachael Blackmore
16:40 Cheltenham
Johnny Henderson Grand Annual
Unexpected Party (FR)
9yo - 12/1
Dan Skelton
Harry Skelton
17:20 Cheltenham
Champion Bumper
Jasmin De Vaux (FR)
5yo - 9/2
W P Mullins
Mr P W Mullins

Schedule for Thursday at the Cheltenham Festival

Halfway through the festival and onto day three where the Stayers Hurdle is the feature race. A hurdle race to test the stamina and see how can last best up the Cheltenham hill.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Cheltenham
Mares Novices Hurdle
Golden Ace (GB)
6yo - 10/1
Jeremy Scott
Lorcan Williams
14:00 Cheltenham
Novices Limited Handicap Chase
New Race
14:40 Cheltenham
Pertemps Network Final
Monmiral (FR)
7yo - 25/1
Paul Nicholls
Harry Cobden
15:20 Cheltenham
Ryanair Chase
Protektorat (FR)
9yo - 17/2
Dan Skelton
Harry Skelton
16:00 Cheltenham
Stayers Hurdle
Teahupoo (FR)
7yo - 5/4
Gordon Elliott
Jack Kennedy
16:40 Cheltenham
Festival Plate
Shakem UpArry (IRE)
10yo - 8/1
Ben Pauling
Ben Jones
17:20 Cheltenham
Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup
Inothewayurthinkin (IRE)
6yo - 13/8
Gavin Cromwell
Mr Derek O'Connor

Schedule for Friday at the Cheltenham Festival

The final day of the festival and feature race that we have all been waiting for, the Cheltenham Gold Cup in which the Irish have been fairly dominant in recent years.

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:20 Cheltenham
Triumph Hurdle
Majborough (FR)
4yo - 6/1
W P Mullins
Mark Walsh
14:00 Cheltenham
County Handicap Hurdle
Absurde (FR)
6yo - 12/1
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
14:40 Cheltenham
Mrs Paddy Power Mares Chase
Limerick Lace (IRE)
7yo - 3/1
Gavin Cromwell
Keith Donoghue
15:20 Cheltenham
Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle
Stellar Story (IRE)
7yo - 33/1
Gordon Elliott
Sam Ewing
16:00 Cheltenham
Cheltenham Gold Cup
Galopin Des Champs (FR)
8yo - 10/11
W P Mullins
Paul Townend
16:40 Cheltenham
Foxhunter Chase Challenge Cup
Sine Nomine (GB)
8yo - 8/1
Fiona Needham
Mr John Dawson
17:20 Cheltenham
Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle
Better Days Ahead (IRE)
6yo - 5/1
Gordon Elliott
Danny Gilligan

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Cheltenham Gold Cup Preview are at hand, Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for National Hunt Racing.

James Banting

James Banting

Tipster Competition Assistant

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for jump racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful national hunt racing blogs for OLBG.

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