The Prestbury Cup at the Cheltenham Festival

The Prestbury Cup is a competition that crowns the winner of the annual battle between British and Irish trainers and jockeys at the Cheltenham Festival. It has been awarded to the nation that has produced the most winners every year since 2014.

28 races take place across the Cheltenham Festival. Due to this, the first country to get to 15 wins is guaranteed to win the Prestbury Cup. However, as you’re probably aware, trainers and jockeys from other nations do compete at Cheltenham, so it is possible to win the Prestbury Cup with fewer than 15 victories.

Once one of the countries has passed the magical 15-win barrier, one of the highest profile trainers from that country usually receives the Prestbury Cup in a special ceremony.

Since tying in 2019, Ireland have won every edition of the Prestbury Cup. Famously, back in 2021, they claimed 23 wins to Great Britain’s five! As a result, they’ll be big favourites to secure the title again this year.

The reason for their dominance in the Prestbury Cup odds is relatively straightforward. Willie Mullins, Henry de Bromhead and Gordon Elliott all have impressive records at the Cheltenham Festival. This year, they’ll all be eyeing multiple victories once again.

As a result, it will take a lot for Britain, who will likely be led by Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls, to overturn last year’s 18-10 deficit!

We’ll update the Prestbury Cup score you can see above at the end of each day of the Festival, so you can see who is in the lead and who is likely to claim the crown this year.

Ireland were the Prestbury Cup winners in 2023. This was their fourth consecutive triumph in the competition.

Last year, the Prestbury Cup finished Ireland 18-10 Great Britain, meaning that the trophy (which actually contains some of Cheltenham’s hallowed turf) went back across the Irish Sea once more.

Since the inception of the trophy back in 2014, Irish trainers have enjoyed the upper hand, they’ve claimed seven outright titles compared to Great Britain’s two. The 2019 trophy was shared, as both countries won 14 races.

Since 2016, Ireland have been truly dominant. In fact, the full list of Prestbury Cup results is grim reading for anyone from Great Britain, who haven’t been the Prestbury Cup winners since 2015:

If you’re interested in betting on the outcome of the Prestbury Cup this year, then head over to our free bets page. Here you’ll be able to see all of the latest and best bookmaker sign up offers ahead of the Cheltenham Festival. Simply look around for the best odds and make your selection.