Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting Guide – Latest Odds, Offers & Runners
Few, if any other markets attract more interest than the Cheltenham Gold Cup betting from horse racing punters. We’ve got the latest odds, offers, current contenders, past champions and betting strategies for you to feast upon right here.
The Importance of Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting
The Cheltenham Festival is the biggest meeting in the annual horse racing calendar. Over four days at Cheltenham Racecourse, horse racing fans are treated to top quality action.
Running from the middle Tuesday to Friday in March each year, the highlight of each day is a Grade 1 feature race. The Champion Hurdle takes place on Tuesday, with the Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase on Wednesday and the Stayers’ Hurdle on the Thursday, warming up the huge crowd for the blue riband event of the Festival, that takes place on Friday.
That event is the Cheltenham Gold Cup. It is not just the biggest race of the Festival, but also the most prestigious of all National Hunt events. Run over an official distance of three miles two furlongs and seventy yards, the horses jump 22 fences.
The showpiece event of the Cheltenham Festival is most valuable non-handicap chase in the UK, with the prize money totalling £625,000 for the 2024 event. This race has been won by some legendary racehorses such as Arkle, Best Mate, Cottage Rake, Denman, Desert Orchid, Golden Miller, Kauto Star, L’Escargot and Mill House.
Our Cheltenham Gold Cup betting tips will help you to predict the identity of the horse that will join this roster of greatness in 2025.
Latest Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting Odds
Here are the latest Cheltenham Gold Cup betting odds for the 2025 race. We’ve highlighted the current best prices for the main contenders.
Alongside those is the implied probability of them tasting victory in the Cheltenham Festival blue riband race and scooping the huge price money on offer. See more Cheltenham odds elsewhere on the site, these are the latest prices for the Gold Cup:
| Horse | Gold Cup Odds | Implied Probability |
| Galopin Des Champs | 4/7 | 63.6% |
| Inothewayurthinkin | 13/2 | 13.3% |
| Banbridge | 7/1 | 12.5% |
| Monty’s Star | 10/1 | 9.1% |
| Corbetts Cross | 16/1 | 5.9% |
| The Real Whacker | 33/1 | 2.9% |
| Ahoy Senor | 66/1 | 1.5% |
| Gentlemansgame | 80/1 | 1.2% |
| Royale Pagaille | 80/1 | 1.2% |
Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting Offers
When you’re betting on Cheltenham Gold Cup markets, it pays to have a little bit extra on your side. Here are some of the Cheltenham betting offers that you can take advantage of on Gold Cup day.
New Customer Offers
When you sign up with a horse racing betting site you can expect a welcome offer. Many are bet and get deals. You sign up, deposit and make a qualifying bet and in return you get Cheltenham free bets to use. The biggest bookmakers have extremely generous new customer offers, particularly around the time of the Cheltenham Festival.
Best Odds Guaranteed
Make sure that Best Odds Guaranteed is in place with Cheltenham Gold Cup betting. If you place a bet and the starting price of the horse is ultimately higher, the bookie will pay out at those bigger odds. Most bookmakers that take horse racing seriously have BOG in place.
Extra Place Races
When you make an each way bet, you are placing one wager on your horse to win and another for it to place. With Extra Place Races, Cheltenham betting sites improve the place terms. So if the Gold Cup has a number of runners that would normally see a first-three finish being rewarded with a place, it will be extended to the first four.
Non-Runner No Bet
When it comes to Cheltenham Gold Cup ante post betting, it pays to have a non-runner money back deal in place to protect you. From January onwards, you can place ante-post bets for the Gold Cup that have a NRNB guarantee. Should you bet on a horse that ends up being a Cheltenham non-runner, you will get your bet stake back.
Key Gold Cup Trials
The National Hunt calendar is regularly punctuated with races that are key trials for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Take a look at the most recent winners of these races and keep them in mind when indulging in Gold Cup betting.
| Cheltenham Gold Cup Trial | Most Recent Winner | Trial Distance | Racecourse | When |
| National Hunt Chase | Corbetts Cross | 3m 5f 201y | Cheltenham | March |
| Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase | Fact To File | 3m 110y | Cheltenham | March |
| Aintree Bowl | Gerri Colombe | 3m 210y | Aintree | April |
| Mildmay Novices’ Chase | Inothewayurthinkin | 3m 210y | Aintree | April |
| Champion Novice Chase | Spillane’s Tower | 3m 213y | Punchestown | April / May |
| Punchestown Gold Cup | Fastorslow | 3m 213y | Punchestown | April / May |
| Down Royal Champion Chase | Envoi Allen | 3m | Down Royal | November |
| Betfair Chase | Royale Pagaille | 3m 1f 125y | Haydock | November |
| John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase | Fact To File | 2m 3f 150y | Punchestown | November |
| King George VI Chase | Banbridge | 3m | Kempton | Boxing Day |
| Savills Chase | Galopin Des Champs | 3m 100y | Leopardstown | December |
| Cotswold Chase | L’Homme Presse | 3m 1f 56y | Cheltenham | January |
| Irish Gold Cup | Galopin Des Champs | 3m 70y | Leopardstown | February |
| Denman Chase | Djelo | 2m 7f 86y | Newbury | February |
Cheltenham Gold Cup Runners
This is where you can fine the official runners for the biggest horse race at the Cheltenham Festival. Early closing entries came out in January with 19 Cheltenham Gold Cup runners, later reduced to 15, then 10 and finally nine taking part in the blue riband steeplechase:
- Ahoy Senor
- Banbridge
- Corbetts Cross
- Galopin Des Champs
- Gentlemansgame
- Inothwayurthinkin (supplemented)
- Monty’s Star
- Royale Pagaille
- The Real Whacker
Scratched
- Conflated
- Embassy Gardens
- Fact To File
- Gerri Colombe (setback)
- Grangeclare West
- Grey Dawning
- Hewick
- Il Est Francais
- Jungle Boogie
- L’Homme Presse
- Minella Cocooner
Past Cheltenham Gold Cup Winners
When betting for Cheltenham Gold Cup winners it makes sense to take a look back at previous winners. By studying past Cheltenham results, you can spot trends that will help you pick out the latest winner of the most important contest in jump racing.
| Year | Gold Cup Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Starting Price (SP) |
| 2024 | Galopin Des Champs | 8 | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins | 10/11F |
| 2023 | Galopin Des Champs | 7 | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins | 7/5F |
| 2022 | A Plus Tard | 8 | Rachael Blackmore | Henry De Bromhead | 3/1F |
| 2021 | Minella Indo | 8 | Jack Kennedy | Henry De Bromhead | 9/1 |
| 2020 | Al Boum Photo | 8 | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins | 100/30F |
| 2019 | Al Boum Photo | 7 | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins | 12/1 |
| 2018 | Native River | 8 | Richard Johnson | Colin Tizzard | 5/1 |
| 2017 | Sizing John | 7 | Robbie Power | Jessica Harrington | 7/1 |
| 2016 | Don Cossack | 9 | Bryan Cooper | Gordon Elliott | 9/4F |
| 2015 | Coneygree | 8 | Nico de Boinville | Mark Bradstock | 7/1 |
| 2014 | Lord Windermere | 8 | Davy Russell | Jim Culloty | 20/1 |
| 2013 | Bobs Worth | 8 | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson | 11/4F |
| 2012 | Synchronised | 9 | Tony McCoy | Jonjo O’Neill | 8/1 |
| 2011 | Long Run | 6 | Sam Waley-Cohen | Nicky Henderson | 7/2F |
| 2010 | Imperial Commander | 9 | Paddy Brennan | Nigel Twiston-Davies | 7/1 |
| 2009 | Kauto Star | 9 | Ruby Walsh | Paul Nicholls | 7/4F |
| 2008 | Denman | 8 | Sam Thomas | Paul Nicholls | 9/4 |
| 2007 | Kauto Star | 7 | Ruby Walsh | Paul Nicholls | 5/4F |
| 2006 | War Of Attrition | 7 | Conor O’Dwyer | Mouse Morris | 15/2 |
| 2005 | Kicking King | 7 | Barry Geraghty | Tom Taaffe | 4/1F |
| 2004 | Best Mate | 9 | Jim Culloty | Henrietta Knight | 8/11F |
| 2003 | Best Mate | 8 | Jim Culloty | Henrietta Knight | 13/8F |
| 2002 | Best Mate | 7 | Jim Culloty | Henrietta Knight | 7/1 |
Effective Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips & Strategy
Before you race off to start some Cheltenham Gold Cup betting, it will pay to consider some strategies. Here are our betting tips for Cheltenham Gold Cup success.
1. Shop Around For the Best Festival Odds
When placing any bet, you’ll want the best odds available. At a major event like the Cheltenham Festival and the Gold Cup, there will be extra opportunities to secure top prices.
Shop around by using odds comparison sites to find where the biggest price is available. If placing a bet nearer the time of the Festival, there will be enhanced odds deals available at many bookies. You could get a major boost to the price of the horse that you want to back.
2. Consider Trials Before Making Verdict
There are lots of races that are key trials for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. These start with the National Hunt Chase and the Novices Chase at the Festival itself, 12 months before the next year’s Gold Cup. There are then a few more over the spring months, culminating in the Punchestown Gold Cup.
The trials then continue again in November, starting with the Down Royal Champion Chase and the Betfair Chase, with several other trials taking place, right up until the Denman Chase in February, just before the Festival. Study these trials, which are key indicators of how the Gold Cup might unfold.
3. Be Cautious With Acca Stakes
With several horse races taking place each day at the Festival many punters enjoy placing accumulator bets. If that’s part of your plans for Gold Cup day, make sure that you keep the stakes of any acca relatively low. Picking out several winners is very difficult.
You could even call it a lottery and there is a reason why lottery tickets are cheap. Treat acca bets as a bit of fun and than means low stakes. You might get lucky and scoop a big win, it only takes one horse to let you down and blow the whole bet. It therefore makes sense to limit your potential losses.
4. Keep an Eye on the Weather Forecast
Trainers will be hoping for decent ground conditions that suit their horses. With the Cheltenham Festival taking place in March, we can expect the ground to be good to soft if there’s not too much rain. Yet if the heavens open, we could see soft ground or heavy going.
These favour Cheltenham horses that have a lot of strength and stamina, which might rule out the betting favourite. Keep an eye on the weather forecast, as it can have a major impact on the ground conditions and in turn, the betting at Cheltenham.
5. Pedigree Can be Your Chum
When we think of pedigree in British horse racing we tend to think in terms of the horse itself and their parentage. You should also consider the pedigree of the jockeys and trainers involved. Paul Townend for example, has plenty of pedigree at the Festival. He has ridden four Gold Cup winners, in 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2024.
All of the horses that Townend rode were trained by Willie Mullins. Between them, Mullins and Henry De Bromhead have trained each of the last six Gold Cup winners. Make sure you check which jockeys and trainers have Cheltenham Gold Cup pedigree.
FAQs
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