The Cheltenham Festival is the pinnacle of the National Hunt season and those four days at Prestbury Park are often referred to as the Olympics of the sport.
We see the best of the British pitted against the best of the Irish and - while critics have suggested that the Festival is not as competitive as it once is - it remains the standout jumps meeting on the calendar.
Trainers With Most Cheltenham Festival Winners
- Willie Mullins - 103 Cheltenham Festival winners
- Nicky Henderson - 73 Cheltenham Festival winners
- Paul Nicholls - 49 Cheltenham Festival winners
- Fulke Walwyn – 40 Cheltenham Festival winners
- Martin Pipe - 34 Cheltenham Festival winners
The following three trainers are always extremely popular in the horse racing betting for Cheltenham every season. Let’s find out why...
Willie Mullins
The Closutton genius has trained an incredible 103 Cheltenham Festival winners so far in his career, including four Gold Cups, courtesy of Al Boum Photo (2019/2020) and Galopin Des Champs (2023/2024).
From his very first Festival winner in 1995 with Tourist Attraction in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle through to Galopin Des Champs in the 2024 Gold Cup, rest assured there will be many more winners to come from Mullins in future years.
The finest Mullins-trained winners in Cheltenham Festival history:
Al Boum Photo
The first Mullins horse to land back-to-back Cheltenham Gold Cups. Al Boum Photo found his best for the Festival as a chaser. He narrowly missed out on a hat-trick of Gold Cups in 2021, finishing a close third.
Galopin Des Champs
Galopin Des Champs won the Martin Pipe in 2021 before going on to win the Gold Cup in 2023 and 2024. He is fairly short in our 2025 Cheltenham odds to make it three in a row.
Hurricane Fly
Winner of the 2011 and 2013 Champion Hurdle, Hurricane Fly was the first horse to ever win the Champion Hurdle, fail to defend it, and then regain it again.
Nicky Henderson
Thought of by many as Britain’s most talented trainer when preparing horses for the Cheltenham Festival, Nicky Henderson currently sits on a tally of 73 winners at the Cheltenham Festival.
Henderson is a Festival legend, having sent out his first winner at the meeting back in 1985 with See You Then, who went on to win three Champion Hurdles- a record which still stands to this day.
Henderson is Britain's most successful trainer at the Cheltenham Festival and is positioned second in the all-time list only behind Ireland's perennial champion trainer Willie Mullins.
The crème de la crème of Henderson’s Festival winners have been:
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Cheltenham Gold Cup: Long Run (2011), Bobs Worth (2013).
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Champion Hurdle: See You Then (1985, 1986, 1987), Punjabi (2009), Binocular (2010), Buveur d'Air (2017, 2018), Epatante (2020), Constitution Hill (2023).
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Queen Mother Champion Chase: Remittance Man (1992), Finian's Rainbow (2012), Sprinter Sacre (2013, 2016), Altior (2018, 2019).
Paul Nicholls
The name Paul Nicholls is well known in National Hunt racing, due to the sheer size and power of his stable, and Cheltenham Festival has been kind to him down the years. The Somerset-based trainer has totted up a total of 49 winners at the annual Festival so far.
It was during the 1998/99 season that Nicholls saddled his first Cheltenham Festival winners, namely Flagship Uberalles in the Arkle Challenge Trophy, Call Equiname in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and See More Business in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Fast forward to the here and now and Nicholls has saddled at least one winner at the Cheltenham Festival every year since 2003 and his career total of 49 winners makes him the third most successful trainer, behind only Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson, in the history of the famous March Festival.
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Training career highlights at the Festival include winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup three more times, with Kauto Star in 2007 and 2009 and Denman in 2008.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
