THE GOLD CUP 2024
The Gold Cup is the jewel in the crown of the Cheltenham Festival attracting the best horses, jockeys and trainers from the UK and Ireland
Grade 1
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt jumps race run on the New Course.
2024 Gold Cup Race Card & Odds
The latest antepost odds for horses running in the 2024 Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England. It is run over a distance of 3 miles 2½ furlongs (5,331 m) with 22 fences to be jumped. It will take place on Friday 15th March 2024 | Time: 15:30.
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In Detail
THE GOLD CUP
RACE HISTORY
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the main race at the Cheltenham Festival that takes place every year in March. The first ever Gold Cup was run in July 1819. It was run on a flat course and was three miles long. It wasn’t until March 1924 when jumps were introduced into the race on what had then become the ‘Old Course’.
Golden Miller, who won every race from 1932-36, dominated the race. Eight years later, the Gold Cup was cancelled twice during World War II. After the war, there was a new champion, Cottage Rake. The horse won the Gold Cup for three consecutive years from 1948-50, which led to the increasing popularity of the race.
In 1959 the Gold Cup was moved to the ‘New Course’ – the same course that is used to this day. With plenty of winners since then, one of the most popular and famous of them all is Arkle. He won the race three times between 1964-66 and even had The Arkle Challenge Trophy named after him at the Festival.
The race has been run every year since it moved to the ‘New Course’, except for 2001 when there was an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
Best Mate matched the feat set by Arkle by winning the race on three consecutive occasions between 2002-04. Since then only Al Boum Photo has managed to win it in back to back years, winning it in 2019 and 2020.
PRIZE MONEY
Due to the race having been first run 200 years ago, the prize for today’s winning trainer has improved dramatically. In 1819 Spectre was the winner of the race. His owner, Mr Bodenham, received a prize of 100 guineas.
When the Gold Cup became a jumps race in 1924 the prize for the owner of Red Splash was £685. Fast-forward 96 years later to 2020 and the total purse for the Cheltenham Gold Cup was £625,000. £351,688 of that went to the connections of Al Boum Photo, the winner of the race.
This was a back-to-back Gold Cup win for the Willie Mullins trained chaser who also won the race in 2019.
By the time the Gold Cup rolled around in 2021, racing was being held behind closed doors. This meant no racing fans and no income from selling the tickets. As such the prize fund was reduced to £468,750.
Connections of the Gold Cup winner, Minella Indo, took home £263,766.
For the 2022 Gold Cup, the prize fund was restored to its full amount. The winner was A Plus Tard for jockey Rachael Blackmore and trainer Henry de Bromhead. The team took home £351,687.50 for the win.
In 2023, when Willie Mullins won the race again with Galopin Des Champs, his team scooped £351,688 of the £625,000 prize pot.
FAMOUS WINNERS
The most notable winner when the Gold Cup was run on the Old Course was Golden Miller. The horse won its first Gold Cup at the age of five and won it for five consecutive years.
He went off at odds of 13/2 in his first win and at the age of eight went off at its shortest winning odds at 1/2. Golden Miller was paired with four different jockeys over the five years. Gerry Wilson was the only jockey to ride him twice in 1934 and 1935.
Arkle is perhaps the most well-known horse to win the Gold Cup consecutively. In 1964 he went off at odds of 7/4 when he first won the race but wasn’t the favourite. When he won his final Gold Cup he was priced at 1/10F. No horse has ever gone off at shorter odds in Gold Cup history than Arkle in 1966.
The most recent winner of at least three consecutive races was Best Mate in 2002. Ridden by Jim Culloty each time, Best Mate was priced at 7/1 in 2002 and then 8/11F in 2003.
Kauto Star was another famous winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Trained by Paul Nicholls, he first won the race in 2007 and then again in 2009. This made him the only horse to regain the Gold Cup in the history of the race. He was beaten in 2008 by stablemate Denman, who he then beat the following year.
Trainer Willie Mullins may have waited quite a long time to bag his first Gold Cup, but when he did in 2019 he did it in style with Al Boum Photo. So much so that he came back to win it again in 2020.
He returned for the treble in 2021 and went off as the race favourite. However it was Minella Indo’s day and connections for Al Boum Photo had to settle for third place.
Rachael Blackmore made history when she became the first female jockey to win the Gold Cup in 2022 on board A Plus Tard.
Willie Mullins and Paul Townend were back in the winners enclosure again in 2023 with Galopin Des Champs.
GOLD CUP RECORDS
Golden Miller is the most successful horse in Gold Cup history. He is the only horse to win the race five times, with the closest competition coming from Cottage Rake, Arkle and Best Mate. All with three Gold Cups each.
Pat Taaffe has the most wins as a jockey. He rode Arkle in all three of his wins and then went on to win with Fort Leney in 1968, two years after Arkle’s final win. Jim Culloty, Tommy Carberry Dick Rees, and Aubrey Brabazon are in second place all with three each.
Tom Dreaper is the leading trainer with five winners. His first win came with 4/7f Prince Regent in 1946. He had to wait another 18 years to get his next winner. That was Arkle who added three more to his tally. His fifth and final win was Fort Leney in 1968. Pat Taaffe, who is the leading jockey, partnered four of Dreaper’s five winners.
Current horse trainer Paul Nicholls only needs one more winner to take his tally to five horses. His last winner was Kauto Star in 2009.
No trainer has more Cheltenham Festival winners than Irish trainer Willie Mullins. He has a total of 61 festival wins since 1995. However, it took him until this year to win his first Gold Cup. That came in the form of Al Boum Photo, ridden by Paul Townend at odds of 12/1.
The leading owner is Dorothy Paget. She owned Golden Miller for all five of his Gold Cup wins and then added two more to take her total to seven wins. She owned the 1940 winner Roman Hackle and Most Tremblant who won the race in 1952.
Norton’s Coin is the highest priced winner of the Gold Cup. He won the race at a staggering 100/1 in 1990. His owner took the horse to Cheltenham on the day of the race, but only after he had finished milking his cows.
The favourite for the race was Desert Orchid at 10/11. Norton’s Coin ran the race in 6 mins 30.9 seconds, which was the fastest time since 1953. He won the race by 3/4 of a length.
The fastest ever time for a Gold Cup win was in 1941. The record was set by Poet Prince who completed the race in 6 minutes and 15.6 seconds. Roger Burford rode the 7/2 favourite. The time was set on the Old Course.
The fastest time around the New Course was set by Long Run in 2011. Long Run was the 7/2F and completed the race in 6 minutes and 29.7 seconds. This was Nicky Henderson’s first and only Gold Cup winner to date.
GOLD CUP TROPHY
The first ever Gold Cup was presented in 1924. The original cup weighed 664g and it was made up of nine-carat gold as well as being plated in 18-carat gold. It was passed to the new winner each year until 1972 when it went into private ownership.
Since then a new cup has been minted each year and contains approximately 10 ounces of gold, putting a value of around £8,500 on it.
However, in 2019 the original 1924 trophy was located and returned to Cheltenham racecourse for presentation to the newest winner.
Once the presentations are completed, the Gold Cup is returned to the racecourse and a replica is given to the winning owner which is theirs to keep.
Guide to
The Gold Cup Course
The first Cheltenham Gold Cup took place in July 1819 on a flat course and was first run as a jumps race in March 1924. Golden Miller was the champion of the ’30s and is still the race’s most successful winner. The Gold Cup was switched to the New Course in 1959 and in the mid-1960s the race was dominated by Arkle, who at odds of 1/10 on, remains the shortest-priced winner in the race’s history.
Best Mate entered the scene in 2002 to win his first of three consecutive Gold Cups for trainer Henrietta Knight. But it was the epic battles between stable mates Kauto Star and Denman that captured the public’s attention between 2007 and 2009. In 2019 and 2020 the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner was Al Boum Photo who gave Irish trainer Willie Mullins his first two Gold Cup wins. For even more tips check out my myracing’s cheltenham betting tips.
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Distance
The Gold Cup is run over a distance of 3 miles 2½ furlongs (5,331 m)
Fences
During its running there are 22 fences to be jumped.
Prestige
The steeplechase is the most prestigious of all National Hunt events and it is sometimes referred to as the Blue Riband of jump-racing.
Previous Winners
Its roll of honour features the names of such chasers as Arkle, Best Mate, Golden Miller, Kauto Star and Mill House.
Prize Money
The Gold Cup is the most valuable non-handicap chase in Britain, and in 2023, it offered a total prize fund of £625,000.
Take a look at
The Latest Gold Cup News
Read On
Spotted Elsewhere…
Gold Cup Stories
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- Sam Thomas preparing twin assault on Coral Gold Cup November 29, 2023Sam Thomas bids to become just the third man to have both ridden and trained the winner of the Coral Gold Cup when he saddles Stolen Silver and Our Power in the ...
- Road To Cheltenham: leading acts struggle to stick to script November 29, 2023Nothing went as expected in the Anglo-Irish staying-chasing scene last weekend, with a trio of odds-on favourites all downed – outcomes that for some were more ...
Cheltenham Festival News
- Winter Festival Sunday racing tips at Fairyhouse November 30, 2023Fairyhouse host three Grade 1 contests on Sunday back-to-back to cap off a great weekend of racing in Ireland. Tom Lunn has gone through the race cards, form, going and much more to help guide ...
- Free horse racing picks from Ed Quigley: Friday at Newbury Winter Festival November 29, 2023The former Cheltenham Festival winner never managed to get involved in this year's renewal of the Mares' Hurdle, but came roaring back to close to her best when runner-up in the Grade 1 Liverpool ...
- Upping The Ante: watch episode four of the new series featuring an 8-1 Cheltenham Festival tip November 28, 2023Join David Jennings and Johnny Dineen for episode four of Upping The Ante with bet365! On this week's episode, David and Johnny answer your questions before looking ahead to the action at Newbury, ...
Gold Cup Day
Race Schedule
Along with the Gold Cup there are six other races, including two more Grade 1 events; the Triumph Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle plus three handicaps that all go together to make the last day of the Cheltenham Festival a day to remember.
| Time | Race | Distance | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13:30 | JCB Triumph Hurdle | 2m 1f | Hurdle |
| 14:10 | County Handicap Hurdle | 2m 1f | Hurdle |
| 14:50 | Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle | 3m | Hurdle |
| 15:30 | Magners Gold Cup Chase | 3m 2½ f | Chase |
| 16:10 | St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase | 3m 2½ f | Chase |
| 16:50 | Mrs Paddy Power Mares Chase | 2m 4f | Chase |
| 17:30 | Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle | 2m 4f | Hurdle |
Racing News
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Gold Cup News
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Stayers’ Hurdle News
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Is It Already A Two Horse Race For the 2021 Stayers Hurdle?December 27, 2020 - 5:30 PM
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