If you’re looking for Gold Cup tips you’ve come to the right place. So, whether you’re a seasoned visitor of Cheltenham racecourse, or this is your first time at the Festival, read on to find out what top tips our experts have given for this year.
In addition, you can also find out everything else you need to know about the iconic and highly anticipated event that is the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the undoubted highlight of the four-day long Cheltenham Festival. It always takes place at 15:30 on a Friday, which is also the final day of the Festival - so it really does end on a high!
In 2024, the Cheltenham Gold Cup exact date and time is Friday 15th March at 15:30. Moreover, 2024 will mark the centenary of the race and promises to be an occasion racegoers won’t forget.
The race has an impressive purse of £625,000 and will see an estimated 10-20 runners compete for what many consider to be the ultimate prize in the National Hunt racing calendar.
Today, the race is a steeplechase event and is run over a distance of 3 miles 2 and a half furlongs (5,294m) and the horses will have to deal with 22 fences laid out over the length of the racecourse during the event. Entries must be aged five years or over, up to any age.
When it comes to Cheltenham Gold Cup winners, some huge names in racing can be found including the likes of Arkle, Best Mate, Golden Miller, Kauto Star, Denman and Mill House.
When it gets closer to 2024’s Cheltenham Festival, we will be publishing our Gold Cup selections here. So be sure to keep checking this page for all the latest and best Gold Cup tips and Gold Cup betting.
You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter/X (@TWEnclosure) to again find some top Gold Cup tips and other useful insights on the race itself.
A race first named the Cheltenham Gold Cup took place in 1819 and was originally run as a flat race over three miles at Cleeve Hill. It was 105 years before the Gold Cup was first run as a jumps race like it is today and the purse for this race was £685. This in modern money - and when taking inflation into account - is around £30,000 and is certainly nowhere near today’s figures.
In these earlier years, this event was overshadowed by both the National Hunt Chase and the County Handicap Hurdle. It wasn’t until the early 50s that the race began to really pick up some popularity.
In 1959 the Gold Cup switched to the “New Course” that we still use today. The first horse to step up and dominate the new course was the legendary horse Arkle. So dominant was his display in the race, that in the third year that Arkle won it, he was given odds of 1/10, which still stands as the shortest price to ever run the race.
While today it’s the ‘Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup’, the first race sponsor actually came in 1972 and the race was named the ‘Piper Champagne Cheltenham Gold Cup’. This was followed by Totesport then called ‘The Tote’ in 1980. Interestingly, during the 80s the race saw a special feat that has yet to be repeated in that trainer Michael Dickinson was responsible for training the first five horses to finish in the race.
Some notable events from recent history saw the second Gold Cup race of the new millennium in 2001 being cancelled due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. A year later Best Mate went on to win the race and remarkably he continued to do the same for the next two years, becoming the last horse to win the race three or more times consecutively. In 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic the race was completed behind closed doors and in 2022 it was won for the first time by a female jockey by Rachael Blackmore.
Ever since the first Gold Cup was run back on the 12th of March 1924, when Dick Rees rode winner Red Splash to victory at odds of 5/1, there have been many famous winners. To give you just a little snapshot of this - and to possibly give some useful Gold Cup betting insights - below we’ve taken a look at each winner of the Gold Cup from the last decade.
The winner of the 2023 Cheltenham Gold Cup was Galopin Des Champs. The jockey was Paul Townend and he is trained by Willie Mullins. Galopin Des Champs was the favourite for the race and ended up comfortably winning by seven-lengths.
2022 - A Plus Tard (J: Rachael Blackmore | T: Henry de Bromhead)
A Plus Tard won 2022’s Gold Cup. A Plus Tard is trained by Henry de Bromhead and was jockeyed by Rachael Blackmore. As we mentioned earlier, Blackmore became the first female jockey to ever win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
2021 - Minella Indo (J: Jack Kennedy | T: Henry de Bromhead)
Despite being up against Al Boum Photo - who was chasing a third consecutive Gold Cup victory - Minella Indo ended up the winner in 2021 by one and a quarter lengths. He was jockeyed by Jack Kennedy and trained by Henry de Bromhead.
2020 - Al Boum Photo (J: Paul Townend | T: Willie Mullins)
In 2020 Al Boum Photo became part of a special group of horses to land the Cheltenham Gold Cup in two consecutive years. Going off as the 100/30 favourite he saw off Santini in the final stages of the race to land the Grade One event for a second year running, also giving trainer Willie Mullins his second ever win in the prestigious race.
2019 - Al Boum Photo (J: Paul Townend | T: Willie Mullins)
2019 saw Willie Mullins-trained Al Boum Photo storm to victory at odds of 12/1. This win gave Willie Mullins his first-ever Gold Cup victory after coming second in 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016.
2018 - Native River (J: Richard Johnson | T: Colin Tizzard)
The 2018 event was an exciting one which saw the first, second and third place go head to head down the final straight with Native River eventually just pulling away and securing victory at 5/1 for Colin Tizzard. 15 other horses ran this race and it was the second longest race since 1989 - which may have been due to the soft conditions on the day.
2017 - Sizing John (J: Robbie Power | T: Jessica Harrington)
In 2017 Sizing John comfortably won the Gold Cup at odds of 7/1 seeing off some tough competition from rivals. This was the very first time that Robbie Power had ridden an entry in the Gold Cup and the first time trainer Jessica Harrington had entered a horse into the race too.
2016 - Don Cossack (J: Bryan Cooper | T: Gordon Elliott)
2016 was the last time - since 2023 - that a favourite won the race, with Don Cossack winning as a 9/4 favourite ahead of the equally short priced Djakadam (second) & Don Poli (third) who were both priced at 9/2 respectively. This duel made for the twelfth-quickest Gold Cup ever, with Don Cossack eventually pulling away down the home straight to win by four and a half lengths.
2015 - Coneygree (J: Nico de Boinville | T: Mark Bradstock)
This was a special race as Coneygree crossed the line to become the first ‘novice’ horse to win the race for over 30 years. Priced at 7/1 Coneygree beat 10/1 Djakadam (second) & 8/1 Road To Riches (third) with the help of jockey Nico de Boinville who claimed his first, and so far, only Gold Cup win.
There have been many exciting races across the Gold Cup’s history, with fascinating records being set by the horses, jockeys and trainers that have taken part in it. Here are a few of the most impressive:
Golden Miller – 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936
Pat Taaffe – Arkle (1964, 1965, 1966), Fort Leney (1968)
Tom Dreaper – Prince Regent (1946), Arkle (1964, 1965, 1966), Fort Leney (1968)
Dorothy Paget – Golden Miller (1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936), Roman Hackle (1940), Mont Tremblant (1952)
Poet Prince - (1941)
L’Escargot - (1971)
Silver Fame - (1951), What a Myth - (1969)
Red Splash - (1924), Patron Saint - (1928), Golden Miller - (1932)
The odds at the Cheltenham Gold Cup are usually fair and it’s rare that a horse is priced at ‘evens’ or below, mainly due to the competitive nature of the event.
The highest priced winner of the Gold Cup was Norton’s Coin which won that race at impressive odds of 100/1 back in 1990. In contrast, the shortest price to ever win the race was the famous Arkle, who secured his third Gold Cup in a row with odds of 1/10.
However, if you’re going to be betting on the Cheltenham Gold Cup this year, we’d recommend a few approaches to take. The first is to take a look through our selection of Gold Cup tips on this page, you can review the latest stats and trends for the Festival and lastly, you can compare the odds from different bookmakers in order to find the best price for your chosen horse.
With the latter, you can do this easily by heading to our ‘Gold Cup Odds’ page. On it you’ll be greeted by a live odds table displaying the odds from the UK’s top bookmakers. From here you can choose the horse and odds you want by clicking on them and adding them straight to your bet slip.
As the Gold Cup is by far the biggest event of the festival, it’s also one in which most punters will try to pick the winner. Subsequently, due to the competitive nature of the race, there are generally some good odds to be had both Ante-Post and on the day of the race. For that reason, it can often be a great race to look at using free bets with your Gold Cup betting.
Bookmakers will generally feature some great offers for the Gold Cup race such as enhanced odds on specific horses. This means it may be great to sign up to any bookmakers you aren’t currently a member of in order to get the best free bet offers.
To see all the best Gold Cup free bets we have on offer head over to our ‘Cheltenham Free Bets’ page to see a full list of everything that is available.
