The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade One National Hunt steeplechase, run over 3 miles 2.5 furlongs with 22 fences at Cheltenham Racecourse, on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival in March. It is the most prestigious race at the Festival, which runs from Tuesday-Friday, and a massive highlight of the National Hunt season. The Gold Cup celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2024.
Jockey Jack Kennedy poses with the Gold Cup after winning on Minella Indo in 2021. Credit: POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The race has been won by such famous names as Arkle, Best Mate, and Cottage Rake, who each won the race three times. Golden Miller won five consecutive Gold Cups from 1932 to 1936 and in 1934 became the only horse ever to win the Aintree Grand National and the Gold Cup in the same season. Other famous winners include Kauto Star and Denman. In 2015 Coneygree became the first novice to win the race in more than 40 years.
The winner of the 2026 Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase will take home over £350,000, making it the most valuable jumps race in Britain and Ireland after the Grand National.
2025: Inothewayurthinkin – read race report
2024: Galopin Des Champs – read race report
2023: Galopin Des Champs – read race report
2022: A Plus Tard – read race report
2021: Minella Indo – read the race report
2020: Al Boum Photo – read the race report
2019: Al Boum Photo – read the race report
2018: Native River – read the race report
2017: Sizing John – read the race report
2016: Don Cossack – read the race report
2015: Coneygree – read the race report
2014: Lord Windermere – read the race report
2013: Bobs Worth – read the race report
2012: Synchronised – read the race report
2011: Long Run – read the race report
The all-time leading Cheltenham Gold Cup trainer is Tom Dreaper, who won it a total of five times, thanks to Prince Regent (1946), Arkle (1964-66) and Fort Leney (1968). The all-time most successful horse in the Cheltenham Gold Cup is Golden Miller, who won it a total of five times across five consecutive years – 1932 to 1936. The top all-time Gold Cup jockey is Pat Taaffe, who won a total of four times – three times on Arkle (1964-66) and one on Fort Leney (1968). And the leading Gold Cup owner, Dorothy Paget won it seven times – five times with Golden Miller (1932-36), as well as with Roman Hackle (1940) and Mont Tremblant (1952).
A new Gold Cup is cast every year for the winner of this race each year. The trophy is worth approximately £10,000 and made of 10 ounces of gold. In 2010, a Gold Cup won in 1988 was stolen by thieves from racehorse owner Raymond Mould. Mr Mould won the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Charter Party, ridden by Richard Dunwoody and trained by David Nicholson.
The first horse race known as the Cheltenham Gold Cup was a flat race run over three miles during a three-day meeting in 1819 and won by a horse called Spectre. The race was run on a course on Cleeve Hill, which overlooks the current Cheltenham racecourse site. The races on Cleeve Hill became popular over the next decade and then interest diminished as steeplechasing became popular.
On 12 March 1924 the Gold Cup was first run as a chase race at Prestbury Park. The winner was a horse called Splash and he took home prize money of £685.
It was not until some years later that the Cheltenham Festival and the Gold Cup became the prestigious events that they are today.
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