Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips: 2024 Betting Preview & Trends

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the big one - the most prestigious race in the jumps calendar and the showpiece event of the Cheltenham Festival. 

Here are our ante-post Gold Cup tips for 2024, with insight into the leading contenders and the best from .

Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips

Galopin Des Champs came of age in the 2023 Gold Cup, justifying short-priced favouritism in the style of a horse that could dominate the race for years to come.

A vintage renewal it was not, but to put seven lengths between himself and runner-up Bravemansgame after the last marked Galopin Des Champs down as an outstanding staying chaser. 

One who could still have more to offer at just seven years of age.

However, Willie Mullins’ star was subsequently beaten by Fastorslow at Punchestown in April, which was a disappointing way to end the season.

Furthermore, the form of that Gold Cup success has become more questionable with each passing month since. 

The next four horses home, Bravemansgame, Conflated, Noble Yeats and Protektorat have run a combined total of 13 times since and have not registered a single success between them.

And then there was Galopin’s inauspicious return in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown, where he once again trailed in behind Fastorslow. 

At that point, doubts were really starting to grow and he wasn't topping too many Gold Cup tips lists. But then everything changed at Leopardstown over Christmas. 

In what looked by far the deepest staying chase of the season, Galopin Des Champs decided the time had come to show the world that last year’s Gold Cup success was no fluke.

Paul Townend barely had to move a muscle as he cruised past rivals on the bridle before sauntering a remarkable 23 lengths clear of Gerri Colombe. 

It was, by some distance, the outstanding performance of any chaser this season and one that forced into taking evasive action.

Galopin is once again at the top of the tree and will be the focus of most ante-post Gold Cup tips columns. However, if there is one thing we have learned about him over the last year, it’s that he can be unpredictable.

That inconsistency, for all that there are excuses for each of his defeats, will ensure that the more daring punters will want to take him on in the Gold Cup betting.

Can Fastorslow Complete Hat-Trick Over Galopin Des Champs?

It’s rare for a horse to be beaten in a Cheltenham handicap and then be second-favourite for a Gold Cup 12 months later.

However, such is the strength of Fastorslow’s form that he stands out as an obvious candidate to lower Galopin Des Champs’ colours in March.

Fastorslow was beaten just a neck despite conceding weight to subsequent Grand National hero Corach Rambler in the and has won Grade 1s at Punchestown on his two starts since.

It could be argued that he benefitted from the front two getting racing from some way out in the Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup in April, while he proved much better suited by the shorter trip than the likes of Galopin Des Champs in the John Durkan, where the favourite was clearly not cherry-ripe.

Fastorslow has more tactical speed than many a three-mile chaser and he’d be a fascinating contender if ground conditions came up nearer good than soft.

But three miles, two-and-a-half furlongs on a stiff track like Cheltenham will surely make him vulnerable to stronger stayers, especially on slow ground.

Is Gerri Colombe’s Bubble Burst?

Gerri Colombe, one of the leading staying novices from last season, was only a couple of points behind Galopin Des Champs in Gold Cup betting heading into Christmas.

His odds tumbled after a stirring late charge took him to the front late on in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal in November.

Gerri has long looked a bona-fide Gold Cup candidate but any Festival hopes were dealt a devastating blow when he was basically lapped by Galopin Des Champs at Leopardstown.

On the face of it, Gerri Colombe has very little chance of turning such a margin around but he looked so laboured from the second-last that there must be a chance that, for whatever reason, we didn’t see the best of this 7yo on the day.

He’s in his first season out of novice company, so it was never going to be plain sailing and it will be a surprise if he doesn’t bounce back at some point.

It's for that reason he makes my ante-post Gold Cup tips list for an each-way punt at odds of 10/1 with BetVictor.

With Bravemansgame now defeated on all four starts since last year’s Gold Cup second and the likes of Protektorat and Ahoy Senor seemingly out of the reckoning, the – yes, you read that correctly!

Shishkin’s racing career was in danger of going south after he refused to jump off in the 1965 Chase at Ascot, but he may well have won the King George had he not unshipped Nico de Boinville at the second-last when in front.

That performance raises genuine hope that he can throw down a challenge and it's why I include him as an each-way pick in my tips for the Gold Cup at odds of 10/1 with BetVictor.

It’s surely fair to say that his class got him into second in last year’s Ryanair Chase, where he was slow to get going and was short of daylight at several of his fences.

He looked much sharper at Kempton and we know he’s a strong stayer who is proven around Cheltenham, so he’s no forlorn hope to go well in the Gold Cup.

One footnote to that King George form – Hewick will be a lively Gold Cup outsider if ground conditions are on the good side. 

He doesn’t have the class or stamina to win a Gold Cup on soft ground.

Latest Cheltenham Gold Cup Prices

Below are the latest Gold Cup odds. Ahead of Cheltenham, you can check out our page for the latest prices on all 28 races.

Cheltenham Gold Cup Trends (Since 2000)

• Avoid Older Runners: No horse aged older than 9 has won the Gold Cup this century.
• Only The Cream Need Apply: Every one of the 23 Gold Cup winners this century was already a Grade 1 winner going into the race.
• Festival Form Counts: Since the turn of the century, 16 Gold Cup winners had previously finished first or second at the Cheltenham Festival. Furthermore, 22 of the 23 winners had previously run at the festival.
• Recent Winning Form Crucial: 21 of the 23 winners this century had won at least one race previously that season.
• Monitor The Market: Big-priced winners are rare. 19 of the last 23 winners came from the top three in the betting. Three of the last four favourites have won.
• Lightly-Raced Chasers Tend To Excel: 20 of the last 23 winners had run no more than 12 times over fences.
• Take Irish Dominance Into Account: Irish-trained runners have won the last five renewals and eight of the last 10.
• Key Festive Trials: 18 of the last 23 Gold Cup winners ran in either the King George VI Chase or the Savills Chase in Ireland.
• Stamina Is Essential: 13 of the last 14 Gold Cup winners had previously won at least once over 3m+.

Recent Cheltenham Gold Cup Winners

2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips - The Early Verdict

For many, Galopin Des Champs is one of the bankers of the entire meeting. 

However, as we’ve mentioned above, the reigning champ has since shown his vulnerabilities on the Grade 1 scene and isn't a bombproof favourite.

With that in mind, two each-way options against the favourite are GERRI COLOMBE, who is better than he showed at Leopardstown over Christmas and still has loads of upside in this division, and SHISHKIN.

Shishkin demonstrated that he is still capable of top-class form at Kempton, for all that he didn’t finish the job. 

If this strong stayer is on the ball in the early stages of the Gold Cup, he could easily prove a threat to all, including Galopin Des Champs.