Gold Cup Trends

The £270,000 Cheltenham Gold Cup is the most valuable non-handicap chase in Britain. The Gold Cup first took place in 1924 and since then some of the greats of National Hunt racing have won the race including Arkle and Desert Orchid.

Gold Cup Ten Year Trends

10/10	had run between two and five times that season
10/10	had previously won a Grade One chase
10/10	started in the first three in the betting
9/10	had won a chase that season
9/10	had run between six and fourteen times over fences
9/10	had won or been placed at a previous Festival
9/10	had an official rating of at least 166
9/10	were aged between seven and nine

Trends Analysis

Kauto Star broke some strong trends in 2009 when becoming the first horse to regain the Gold Cup and was also winning with more experience over fences than any winner in the previous ten years.

Long Run also smashed some trends in 2011 when he became the first six-year-old to win the Gold Cup since Mill House way back in 1963!

Nevertheless the Gold Cup is a race where history often repeats itself and as well as the comprehensive list above make sure your selection lined up in the King George at Kempton as seven of the last ten winners ran in the Boxing Day highlight.

Gold Cup Last Ten Winners

Table below shows the last ten winners of the race.

Year	Horse	Age	Trainer	Jockey	Price
2011	Long Run	6yo	N Henderson	Mr S Waley-Cohen	7/2F
2010	Imperial Commander	9yo	N Twiston-Davies	P Brennan	7/1
2009	Kauto Star	9yo	P Nicholls	R Walsh	7/4F
2008	Denman	8yo	P Nicholls	S Thomas	9/4
2007	Kauto Star	7yo	P Nicholls	R Walsh	5/4F
2006	War Of Attrition	7yo	M Morris	C ODwyer	15/2
2005	Kicking King	5yo	T Taaffe	B Geraghty	4/1F
2004	Best Mate	9yo	Miss H Knight	J Culloty	8/11F
2003	Best Mate	8yo	Miss H Knight	J Culloty	13/8F
2002	Best Mate	7yo	Miss H Knight	J Culloty	7/1

Gold Cup Preview and Tips

Winning one Gold Cup is a wonderful achievement but winning more than one is a very rare bird indeed. Since L'Escargot managed back to back successes in 1970 and 1971 only Best Mate and Kauto Star have managed to win the Gold Cup more than once so Long Run will have to be an exceptional horse to record a Cheltenham Gold Cup double.

However at this stage of the season creditable challengers appear hard to find and anyone wanting to invest at this point can only really consider backing Long Run especially as his recent run at Haydock looks to have put him spot on for the King George and his price for Cheltenham looks likely to contract if he wins again at Kempton.