With the Cheltenham Festival almost here, the hype for one of the biggest horse racing events of the year is building, with bettors and horse racing enthusiasts doing their research throughout the different days of the Cheltenham Festival. OddsMonkey has guides for specific days, such as our Cheltenham Festival Day 1 guide, yet we have also created this guide for the most prestigious race of the event which is the Gold Cup! In typical OddsMonkey fashion, we will be looking at all the different aspects surrounding the Gold Cup, from the basics of what the race is to the favourites and selections throughout the 2025 Cheltenham Festival!
What Is The Cheltenham Gold Cup?
For most horse racing fans, the Cheltenham Gold Cup is one of the most prestigious trophies throughout the entire horse racing calendar, with the Grand National being another illustrious competition. The Cheltenham Gold Cup is held annually in Gloucestershire, and it is a Grade 1 National Hunt race, which means it is a horse racing event that only allows the very best of the best!
The Gold Cup takes place on Friday, which is the last day of each Cheltenham Festival, and the race is in such high regard that the entire day is named after it as it is called Gold Cup Friday. Usually taking place around 16:00 (GMT), the race is the most notable race of the Cheltenham Festival. The Gold Cup attracts some of the top horses, jockeys, and trainers from around the world, and winning the race is known to be one of the biggest achievements in the world of jump racing!
Cheltenham Gold Cup Race
The Cheltenham Gold Cup race takes place over a distance of 3 miles and 2 1⁄2 furlongs, which is about 5.2 kilometres, making it one of the longest races throughout the Cheltenham Festival. With 22 fences, this is a challenging race for both horses and jockeys, as it requires skill, determination and stamina to perform well throughout the Gold Cup. If bettors are looking to learn more about horse racing, we offer a horse racing betting guide that is full of all the basics of horse racing!
The Cheltenham Gold Cup typically has a maximum field of 14 runners, though this number can vary depending on the year, as there might be some non-runners or withdrawals before the race. The horses that do take part in the Cheltenham Gold Cup are known to be some of the best horses in the United Kingdom and the world! There are some requirements that need to be met for a horse to qualify, as horses under the age of 5 cannot compete, and horses that have won or placed in Grade 1 races before are likely to be considered for the Gold Cup.
Finally, the Gold Cup race has one of the biggest prize pools in horse racing. The total prize pool tends to exceed £600,000, and the winner typically receives around £350,000. This number typically varies every year, depending on sponsorships and other factors.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse. Whilst the Old Course is better suited to quicker horses who like to sit close to the pace, the New Course offers a much harder test of stamina! If you are new to horse race betting but want to join in with the hype of the Cheltenham Festival, make sure to check out our beginner tips for the Cheltenham Festival!
Gold Cup 2025 Preview
When looking forward to the Gold Cup coming up on Friday, the 14th of March, there are many interesting selections to pick out from the horses that are currently set to compete within the Gold Cup. Last year’s winner and highly favoured Galopin Des Champs will be back for Willie Mullins in an attempt to win the Gold Cup for a third time in a row after winning the trophy back to back in 2023 and 2024. The last horse to achieve this was back in 2004, with Best Mate winning the Gold Cup in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
With odds of 8/15 for Galopin Des Champs, he is the clear favourite for the Gold Cup! Yet there are many other horses who could surprise the field, such as Banbridge and Fact To File, which are placed at odds of 8/1 and 10/1, respectively.
Throughout the field, we can see many other impressive horses, such as Grangeclare West, who finished second in the Irish Gold Cup but has not been able to prove itself against the big boys this season. L’Homme Presse ran a commendable race in the Gold Cup last year, finishing fourth and winning the Cotswold Chase on trials day; it also won the Ascot Chase.
If you are looking for previews throughout the different days, check out our Cheltenham Festival Day 4 guide, which goes through the other races that take place across Gold Cup Friday.
Cheltenham Festival At OddsMonkey
The Cheltenham Festival is upon us, and there is no better place than OddsMonkey to find out all you need to know about horse racing, but more specifically, horse racing matched betting! With guides on how to get into matched betting and different techniques bettors can use, OddsMonkey has it all!
We also like to ensure that bettors that use the OddsMonkey site make the most of the Cheltenham Festival, which is why we have included a Cheltenham Festival betting offers guide alongside a Cheltenham Festival profit guide, which can both be used when placing bets throughout the Cheltenham Festival!
