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.
Best Jockeys at the Cheltenham Festival
Which jockeys have performed best over the past ten years at the Cheltenham Festival?
Top Five Cheltenham Jockeys
- Paul Townend with 33 wins
- Rachael Blackmore with 16 wins
- Nico de Boinville with 15 wins
- Jack Kennedy with 11 wins
- Mark Walsh with 10 wins
Carry on below as we will have a look at the top performers here based on wins and also in the place market.
Which jockeys are worth following? and which are best left alone? Also, see what our tipsters are tipping with their Cheltenham tips.
It is also worth keeping an eye on these jockeys in the build-up to Cheltenham, see which of them are hitting form and producing winners and see if the OLBG racing tipsters are backing these in the build-up on the main Horse Racing Tips page.
Essential Guide To The Cheltenham Festival 2025
Top Ten Cheltenham Festival Jockeys by Wins
| Jockey | R-W-P | Win | EW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Townend | 164-33-69 | +45.19 | +12.95 |
| Rachael Blackmore | 102-16-30 | +11.66 | -11.82 |
| Nico de Boinville | 101-15-29 | +19.16 | -3.59 |
| Jack Kennedy | 90-11-37 | +22.98 | +19.80 |
| Mark Walsh | 99-10-29 | +28.37 | +3.90 |
| Harry Skelton | 93-9-23 | -9.50 | -14.66 |
| Mr J J Codd | 34-8-18 | +34.50 | +21.05 |
| Sam Twiston-Davies | 127-6-13 | -60.00 | -73.09 |
| Mr P W Mullins | 73-6-23 | -51.58 | -32.72 |
| Harry Cobden | 94-5-23 | -1.50 | -4.23 |
Paul Townend
Five winners in 2020 for Paul Townend was his best return until he matched that number in both 2022 and 2023 and then in 2024 had his best festival to date landing six winners from just fifteen rides, which was a 40% strike rate.
The large majority of his winners (32 of 33) have come when teaming up with Willie Mullins, eighteen of his thirty-three wins have come over hurdles but at the same time, he has ridden 100 over hurdles and only 56 over fences where he has fourteen wins.
Townend rode back-to-back Cheltenham Gold Cup winners in the saddle of Al Boum Photo in both 2019 & 2020 and returned in 2021 with that same runner looking to match the great Pat Taffe, the only jockey in history to win the race for three consecutive years and that was with the legendary Arkle.
However, on his third attempt, Townend could only manage a third-place finish and in 2022 finished sixth on that same runner, however, he picked up his third Gold Cup success with Galopin Des Champs in 2023 and then produced another back-to-back success and his fourth with the same runner winning in 2024 which made him the joint-most winning jockey in the race along with Pat Taaffe.
Lookout Cheltenham, the Irish are Coming!!
Rachael Blackmore
With her two winners in 2024, Rachael Blackmore has now moved ahead of Nico and up to second in the ranking for most wins at the Festival over the past ten.
She has sixteen wins, the first of which came in 2019 with A Plus Tard when winning the then-named Close Brothers Novices Handicap Chase, a race which has since been dropped from the festival, this runner gave her Gold Cup success in 2022 becoming the first female jockey to win the race.
All bar two of her wins have come for Henry De Bromhead, the other two were for Willie Mullins. Only one of her sixteen wins has come in handicap races from a total of thirty rides which was the already mentioned A Plus Tard.
Cheltenham Novice Hurdlers Breeding & Pedigree Guide
Nico de Boinville
Nico de Boinville has recorded a total of fifteen wins in the past ten festivals from one hundred and one rides and returns an LSP of +19.16 if backing all of these rides.
He has now slipped down to third in the jockey rankings having dropped below Rachael Blackmore after a blank in 2024, the 2019 festival was his best return at the festival with three winners.
He has ridden six winning outright favourites from eleven rides, three of those being on board Altior and 93% of his fifteen winners have come with a runner who won their last race before coming to the festival.
Cheltenham Festival - The Fate of Favourites
Top Cheltenham Festival Jockeys
Here are the best Cheltenham Festival jockeys since 2005 and a graph to show how they have progressed with each year:
Cheltenham Festival Best Trainers
The Not So Good Cheltenham Festival Jockeys Records
When it comes to blanks, Paddy Brennan leads the way without a single winner from a total of fifty-three rides which is by far the worst record on offer!
Other noticeable jockeys without winners are Sean Bowen (0-40), Barry O'Neill (0-26) and Will Biddick (0-24).
Daryl Jacob doesn't have the best of records with just one winner from ninty-two rides and Jonathan Burke (0-57), Charlie Deutsch (1-49) and Adrian Heskin (1-45) are similar.
Cheltenham Festival Handicap Pointers
Top Ten Cheltenham Festival Jockeys in Handicaps
Paul Townend and Harry Skelton share the top spot in handicap with both notching up five winners apiece, although Townend's have come from fourteen fewer rides (34) compared to Skelton's (48).
Aiden Coleman is 0-40 in handicaps at the festival since 2015, Daryl Jacobs is 0-36 and Paddy Brennan has also struggled in handicaps with a 0-22 record.
| Jockey | R-W-P | Win | EW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Skelton | 48-5-14 | +4.50 | +3.14 |
| Paul Townend | 34-5-9 | +41.75 | +19.68 |
| Sam Twiston-Davies | 65-3-8 | -18.50 | -25.74 |
| Mark Walsh | 42-3-9 | -1.50 | -6.88 |
| J J Slevin | 24-3-9 | +3.50 | +5.08 |
| David Bass | 22-3-5 | +24.00 | +9.99 |
| Jack Kennedy | 37-2-11 | +1.00 | +6.78 |
| Robbie Power | 28-2-3 | +0.00 | -8.69 |
| Brian Hughes | 24-2-3 | -3.50 | -8.19 |
| Bridget Andrews | 15-2-3 | +53.00 | +31.89 |
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.
| Race | Last Winner | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 13:30 Cheltenham Supreme Novices Hurdle | Slade Steel (IRE) 6yo - 7/2 | Henry De Bromhead Rachael Blackmore |
| 14:10 Cheltenham Arkle Challenge Trophy | Gaelic Warrior (GER) 6yo - 2/1 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 14:50 Cheltenham Ultima Handicap Chase | Chianti Classico (IRE) 7yo - 6/1 | Kim Bailey David Bass |
| 15:30 Cheltenham Champion Hurdle | State Man (FR) 7yo - 2/5 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 16:10 Cheltenham Close Brothers Mares Hurdle | Lossiemouth (FR) 5yo - 8/13 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 16:50 Cheltenham Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle | Lark In The Mornin (GER) 4yo - 9/1 | Joseph Patrick O'Brien J J Slevin |
| 17:30 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!
| Race | Last Winner | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 13:30 Cheltenham Baring Bingham Novices Hurdle | Ballyburn (IRE) 6yo - 1/2 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 14:10 Cheltenham Brown Advisory Novices Chase | Fact To File (FR) 7yo - 8/13 | W P Mullins Mark Walsh |
| 14:50 Cheltenham Coral Cup | Langer Dan (IRE) 8yo - 13/2 | Dan Skelton Harry Skelton |
| 15:30 Cheltenham Queen Mother Champion Chase | Captain Guinness (IRE) 9yo - 17/2 | Henry De Bromhead Rachael Blackmore |
| 16:10 Cheltenham Cross Country Chase | Delta Work (FR) 10yo - 11/10 | Gordon Elliott Keith Donoghue |
| 16:50 Cheltenham Johnny Henderson Grand Annual | Unexpected Party (FR) 9yo - 12/1 | Dan Skelton Harry Skelton |
| 17:30 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.
| Race | Last Winner | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 13:30 Cheltenham Turners Novices Chase | Grey Dawning (IRE) 7yo - 5/2 | Dan Skelton Harry Skelton |
| 14:10 Cheltenham Pertemps Network Final | Monmiral (FR) 7yo - 25/1 | Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden |
| 14:50 Cheltenham Ryanair Chase | Protektorat (FR) 9yo - 17/2 | Dan Skelton Harry Skelton |
| 15:30 Cheltenham Stayers Hurdle | Teahupoo (FR) 7yo - 5/4 | Gordon Elliott Jack Kennedy |
| 16:10 Cheltenham Festival Plate | Shakem UpArry (IRE) 10yo - 8/1 | Ben Pauling Ben Jones |
| 16:50 Cheltenham Mares Novices Hurdle | Golden Ace (GB) 6yo - 10/1 | Jeremy Scott Lorcan Williams |
| 17:30 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.
| Race | Last Winner | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 13:30 Cheltenham Triumph Hurdle | Majborough (FR) 4yo - 6/1 | W P Mullins Mark Walsh |
| 14:10 Cheltenham County Handicap Hurdle | Absurde (FR) 6yo - 12/1 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 14:50 Cheltenham Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle | Stellar Story (IRE) 7yo - 33/1 | Gordon Elliott Sam Ewing |
| 15:30 Cheltenham Cheltenham Gold Cup | Galopin Des Champs (FR) 8yo - 10/11 | W P Mullins Paul Townend |
| 16:10 Cheltenham Foxhunter Chase Challenge Cup | Sine Nomine (GB) 8yo - 8/1 | Fiona Needham Mr John Dawson |
| 16:50 Cheltenham Mrs Paddy Power Mares Chase | Limerick Lace (IRE) 7yo - 3/1 | Gavin Cromwell Keith Donoghue |
| 17:30 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 Best Jockeys at the Cheltenham Festival 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.
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Arc Jimmy
Many thanks for time & effort put into both jockey & trainer stats in both graded & handicap races & also who to avoid the likes of Sean Bowen & Fergal O'Brien came as quite a shock & good luck with your picks / punts .