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The brightest of all the many highlights of the Cheltenham Festival, the Gold Cup is the most prestigious National Hunt race in the UK calendar.
Nearly 100 years old, the Gold Cup was first run in 1924 when the prize to the connections of the winning horse was just £685 – a far cry from today’s £351,688! It’s now the most valuable race of the Cheltenham Festival, only won by the very best of stayers and jumpers.
Originally run on the Old Course and switched to the New Course in 1959, competing horses must clear 22 fences in addition to staying the gruelling trip, so this is the stiffest of jumps tests. It seems to favour horses aged between seven and nine years old – experienced, but not quite veterans.
Usually quite an unpredictable race, only ten favourites have won since 2000.
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| Date | Friday, 17th March 2023 |
|---|---|
| Location | Cheltenham Racecourse |
| Inaugurated | 1924 |
| Grade | 1 National Hunt Race |
| Runners | 27 |
| Race Type | Steeplechase |
| Fences | 22 |
| Distance | 3 miles, 2 furlongs and 70 yards |
| Surface | Turf |
| Track | Left-handed |
| Qualification | 5+ years old |
| Handicapped | Non-Handicapped |
Previous winners
No horse has won the Gold Cup more times than Golden Miller, who won the race five years running from 1932 to 1936. The best attempts at succeeding him to the throne so far have been the mighty Arkle (won 1964, 1965 and 1966) and Best Mate (2002, 2003 and 2004). Irish-trained horses have dominated this race for the last four years, and are fancied by the market to do the same this year too.
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | A Plus Tard | Rachael Blackmore | Henry de Bromhead |
| 2021 | Minella Indo | Jack Kennedy | Henry de Bromhead |
| 2020 | Al Boum Photo | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
| 2019 | Al Boum Photo | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
| 2018 | Native River | Richard Johnson | Colin Tizzard |
Gold Cup Runners
Only four of the entrants in the Gold Cup have previous form in the race, of which A Plus Tard and Minella Indo have won the race.
If last year’s winner, A Plus Tard, can win the Gold Cup again, it’ll be his trainer Henry de Bromhead’s third consecutive win. A hat-trick of Gold Cups has not been won by a horse since Henrietta Knight’s Best Mate won his third renewal in a row back in 2004.
Although Irish-trained horses are dominating the betting market currently, with six of the top-ten fancied horses being from Irish stables, the unpredictable nature of this race could see British trainers reclaim the Gold Cup, winning it for the first time since 2018.
| Horse | Trainer | Gold Cup Races | Highest Gold Cup position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahoy Senor | Lucinda Russell | 0 | n/a |
| Angels Breath | Sam Thomas | 0 | n/a |
| A Plus Tard | Henry De Bromhead | 2 | 1st |
| Bravemansgame | Paul Nicholls | 0 | n/a |
| Capodanno | Willie Mullins | 0 | n/a |
| Conflated | Gordon Elliott | 0 | n/a |
| Coole Cody | Evan Williams | 0 | n/a |
| Eldorado Allen | Joe Tizzard | 0 | n/a |
| Envoi Allen | Henry de Bromhead | 0 | n/a |
| Franco De Port | Willie Mullins | 0 | n/a |
| Fury Road | Gordon Elliott | 0 | n/a |
| Ga Law | Jamie Snowden | 0 | n/a |
| Galopin Des Champs | Willie Mullins | 0 | n/a |
| Galvin | Gordon Elliott | 1 | 4th |
| Hewick | John Hanlon | 0 | n/a |
| Minella Indo | Henry de Bromhead | 2 | 1st |
| Noble Yeats | Emmet Mullins | 0 | n/a |
| Protektorat | Dan Skelton | 1 | 3rd |
| Royale Pagaille | Venetia Williams | 2 | 5th |
| Shishkin | Nicky Henderson | 0 | n/a |
| Sounds Russian | Ruth Jefferson | 0 | n/a |
| Stattler | Willie Mullins | 0 | n/a |
| The Real Whacker | Patrick Neville | 0 | n/a |
Cheltenham Gold Cup Odds
Willie Mullins’ Galopin Des Champs is hot-favourite to win the Gold Cup this year with odds of 7/4. This is deservedly so on the back of two impressive Grade 1 wins this season by a combined 21 lengths. There’s no question that the 7-year-old can stay the trip and – one of the younger in the field – he may have an edge on some of the runners aged nine and over.
Second favourite and last year’s winner A Plus Tard makes his bid for another win at 8/1. This price could turn out to be very generous if the gelding returns to Cheltenham with the same form as he did in 2022, which brought a 15 length win in this race. It may be uncommon, but it is certainly not unheard of for horses to win this race twice, although A Plus Tard will have his work cut out for him here with some very high-class rivals.
Protektorat could represent good value at 14/1 having won the Betfair Chase in great style back in November. He’s run at Cheltenham plenty of times and has won two novices’ races there, and is rarely seen out of the top three. There’s little reason why we wouldn’t see him in the placings again here, of not in the winners’ enclosure.
Hewick has quite long odds at 20/1, but his win in the USA Grand National in October was such a triumph that he must enter considerations and is a nice each-way price. He can happily stay the trip but must prove that he can handle the testing Cheltenham track.
William Hill are offering Non-Runner Money Back on all Cheltenham Festival races, so make sure you don’t miss out on these prices as Cheltenham gets closer!
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