Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips

Get our Cheltenham Gold Cup tips for the biggest race of the Festival!

Our tip for the Cheltenham Festival Gold Cup will be posted in the afternoon on Thursday, 12th March 2026, along with a full writeup.

A wide-open and compelling renewal of the 2026 Cheltenham Gold Cup is set for 13th March.

Galopin Des Champs will be back in his bid to win the race for a third time after falling agonizingly short in 2025. The Willie Mullins superstar has endured a mixed campaign, finishing third in both the Savills Chase and Irish Gold Cup.

Last year’s victor, Inothewayurthinkin, has failed to replicate the form shown at Cheltenham, falling late in the piece in the Irish Gold Cup. Fact To File could yet be supplemented for the blue riband race after winning the DRF showpiece.

There are fresh names to consider in this year’s renewal, including three of the first four home in the King George. The Jukebox Man stayed on strongly to win the Christmas highlight to maintain his unbeaten record over fences for Ben Pauling.

Meanwhile, Jango Baie has attracted steady support for the Gold Cup since finishing fourth at Kempton. His Cheltenham form is worth considering after staying on well to win the Arkle at the Festival last season.

Haiti Couleurs gives Rebecca Curtis an excellent chance, with the nine-year-old adding the Denman Chase and Welsh Grand National to his CV over fences.

Spillane’s Tower edged out Grey Dawning to land the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in January, but both will need major improvement to star in this high-quality edition of the Gold Cup. Grand National-bound runners I Am Maximus, Nick Rockett, and Firefox could all hold each-way claims.

The latest Cheltenham Gold Cup odds from BetMGM are:

• Fact To File - 7/2
• Jango Baie - 5/1
• The Jukebox Man - 5/1
• Gaelic Warrior - 5/1
• Haiti Couleurs - 7/1
• Galopin Des Champs - 8/1
• Spillanes Tower - 14/1
• Grey Dawning - 14/1
• Inothewayurthinkin - 14/1
• I Am Maximus - 25/1
• Affordable Fury - 25/1
• Nick Rockett - 33/1
• Impaire Et Passe - 33/1
• 40/1 bar

Last updated at 6pm on 17th February 2026.

With a high-quality field set to go to post for the 2026 Cheltenham Gold Cup, it could be worth examining the trends that could help pinpoint a likely winner of the race. Below, you can find the key stats:

• Aged 7-9 (12/12)
• Run Within 80 Days (11/12)
• Horses With Cheltenham Experience (12/12) & Winning Experience (8/12)
• Runners With 2+ Runs Over The Gold Cup Distance (11/12)
• Horses With 2+ Wins Over Fences (12/12)
• Grade One-Winning Form (12/12)

The Cheltenham Gold Cup always attracts promotions from bookmakers, including enhanced odds, extra places and free bets.

Check out the best offers below, updated daily:

Tuesday - Champion Hurdle Tips

Wednesday - Champion Chase Tips

Thursday - Stayers Hurdle Tips & Ryanair Chase Tips

Friday - Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips

After two years of Galopin Des Champs domination, he was unsurprisingly well backed in the ring. Eventually sent off 8/13, the nearest challenger in the 9 runner field was Banbridge at 13/2, followed by Inothewayurthinking (15/2) and Monty's Star (8/1).

The race was a messy one from the start, with numerous horses making jumping mistakes and the heavy favourite having to be given some early encouragement, worrying backers.

Ahoy Senor led for the majority of the early stages, but fell at the open ditch 15. Numerous horses behind were badly hampered including Galopin Des Champs but he was able to quickly make up the ground and rejoin the pack.

As they turned towards the third from home, it looked like the race was his to lose. He loomed up outside Gentlemansgame, travelling beautfiully. He managed to hold the lead over the second last, but the tank emptied quickly after the last, and Inothewayurthinking flew over the last and quickly put the race to bed.

The Gold Cup is the highlight of the Cheltenham Festival, and our tipsters spend painstaking hours researching the race both before and during the Festival itself.

Given the stature of the race and the quality of the horses running, the majority of relevant form takes place at the biggest Festivals - think Kempton on Boxing Day, the Dublin Racing Festival, the Punchestown Festival, previous Cheltenham Festivals, and the like.

In short, it's very rare for a contender to come to this race not having run in multiple Grade 1 and Grade 2s, and these will have been watched and carefully analysed by our team. For our Cheltenham Gold Cup tips, they focus on key information for each horse such as:

• Ground suitability
• Jumping quality and any quirks
• Stamina (especially key for the Cheltenham hill)
• Race planning and targets

They'll take all this information, plus anything else they can gather from other sources such as trainer quotes, and use it to review the entire field, before making a decision on our tip.

The tip is then posted on this page, along with full reasoning.