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

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.

Cheltenham Gold Cup Information:

• Cheltenham Gold Cup Past Winners
• Cheltenham Gold Cup Trainer Statistics
• Cheltenham Gold Cup Jockey Statistics

To see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are tipping throughout the card that includes this race, head over to the Cheltenham tips on the day of the race, do they agree with the runners on the trend shortlist or are they predicting other runners? 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.

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.

Cheltenham Gold Cup Trends:

• 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup Trends
• Cheltenham Gold Cup Trend Analysis

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 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -8.43. Remember to bookmark the racing tips page so you can get easy access to the OLBG racing picks daily.

Over the last 20 renewals, it was the Nicky Henderson trained Long Run ridden by Mr Sam Waley-Cohen who set the fastest winning time in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the runner won the race in a time of 6:29.70 was set when winning the race in 2011. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer W P Mullins and jockey Paul Townend with Galopin Des Champs who set the slowest winning time, the race-winning time was 7:05.14 in the 2024 renewal.

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

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 trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

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):

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):

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

2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup Trends

Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): 1, 11, 1, 2, 1, F, 1, 3, 1, 5, 7, 1, 4, 2, 8, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1

The percentage shown is the percentage of the total number of runners who fell under that factor. High percentages are less appealing than lower ones as you would expect them to do well.

• 20 / 20 (53%) - Within the first 7 of the market
• 20 / 20 (56%) - Had 1 - 10 wins (Class)
• 20 / 20 (57%) - Highest Won is G1
• 20 / 20 (61%) - No bigger than 20/1
• 20 / 20 (68%) - Break of 33 - 372 days (Last Win)
• 20 / 20 (71%) - Achieved an RPR of 157+ (Class)
• 20 / 20 (73%) - Won within last 4 starts
• 20 / 20 (74%) - Off a break of 33 - 104 days
• 20 / 20 (74%) - No more than +2yrs (Vs Min Age)
• 20 / 20 (75%) - Had 1 - 11 placings (Class)
• 20 / 20 (77%) - No older than a 9yo
• 20 / 20 (78%) - Highest Placed is G1
• 20 / 20 (79%) - Carried 159 - 166lbs (LTO)
• 20 / 20 (80%) - No bigger than 8/1 (LTO)
• 20 / 20 (80%) - Carried 141 - 166lbs (Debut)

Remember to use the trends listed above along with the Cheltenham racing predictions to see if you can find the winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. If you are looking to place on a bet this race well in advance of the actual running, then there may be an ante-post market available for you to place your bet. If you are unfamiliar with this type of betting then head over to the OLBG Betting School and read our Ante-Post Horse Racing article which explains how ante-post betting works.

Are you already a member? If not, then why not? With over £6,000 given away each month in the tipster competition, why not get involved? Remember, It is completely FREE! So, head over to the registration page to sign up today! If you are already a member, then share your thoughts on the Cheltenham Gold Cup by adding a tip on the race here.

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. Ahead of the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup why not head over to the best racing tipster page to see what the tipsters are backing today?

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.

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!

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.

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.