The fourth and final day of the Cheltenham Festival sees a field of the finest chasers take centre stage. First run in 1924, this 3m2½f contest has lit up the Prestbury Park track for over a hundred years and remains the premier staying chase of the year. The Grand National may be the most famous British jumps race for the stamina-laden stars, but, in terms of the sheer talent of the runners, the Cheltenham Gold Cup has no equal.
Looking back through the previous winners of this Grade 1 contest reveals a cast of all-time greats, including Kauto Star, Denman, Best Mate, and the mighty Arkle, to name but four. Figuring out who will add their names to that illustrious list is one of the biggest conundrums at the most magical meeting of the year.
Like many Cheltenham Festival contests in 2026, the road to the Cheltenham Gold Cup has featured its fair share of twists and turns, with the withdrawal of two-time champ Galopin Des Champs the big news in the build-up to the race. However, with the final list of runners and riders confirmed, we now know that the 2026 Gold Cup hero will be one of the following 11 hopefuls.
Cheltenham Gold Cup: Confirmed Field of Runners and Riders
| Number | Horse | Jockey | Trainers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Envoi Allen | Darragh O’Keeffe | Henry de Bromhead |
| 2 | Firefox | Jack Kennedy | Gordon Elliott |
| 3 | Gaelic Warrior | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
| 4 | Gold Tweet | Clement Lefebvre | Gabriel Leenders |
| 5 | Grey Dawning | Harry Skelton | Dan Skelton |
| 6 | Haiti Couleurs | Sean Bowen | Rebecca Curtis |
| 7 | Inothewayurthinkin | Mark Walsh | Gavin Cromwell |
| 8 | Jango Baie | Nico de Boinville | Nicky Henderson |
| 9 | L’Homme Presse | Charlie Deutsch | Venetia Williams |
| 10 | Spillane’s Tower | Harry Cobden | James Joseph Mangan |
| 11 | The Jukebox Man | Ben Jones | Ben Pauling |
Highlights
The absence of Galopin Des Champs weakens Willie Mullins’ hand slightly. However, following the final declarations, Mullins is still responsible for the favourite in the shape of Gaelic Warrior. Sporting the famous pink and green of Susannah Ricci, the eight-year-old boasts a solid Festival record, having finished second in the Fred Winter (2022), second in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle (2023), and run out an 8½l winner of the 2024 Arkle Chase.
Kicking off 2025/26 with a thrilling verdict over Fact To File in the John Durkan Memorial Chase, he then went down by just a short head in a memorable renewal of the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day. He wasn’t quite as good when five lengths behind Fact To File in the Irish Gold Cup and may need to improve on that to hand Mullins a fifth win in the great race.
Unusually for a feature event at the Cheltenham Festival, the next three in the market all hail from a British yard. Already among the winners at the meeting, Nicky Henderson sends King George fourth Jango Baie into battle. Having stayed on well to lose out by a ½l in a blanket finish, the step up in trip may give him a chance of turning the tables on his Kempton conquerors. The seven-year-old also boasts solid form at this meeting, having come from a seemingly impossible position to win the 2025 Arkle Chase. With Nico de Boinville in the saddle, he has sound claims of taking the Gold Cup back to Seven Barrows for the first time since 2013.
Despite finishing ahead of both Gaelic Warrior and Jango Baie at Kempton, King George hero The Jukebox Man finds himself behind those rivals in the early Gold Cup market. He has solid course form, having finished second in the 2024 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, while the manner of his last-gasp Boxing Day win suggests he may handle the additional 2f of this race. Carrying the colours of Harry Redknapp, the Ben Pauling runner seeks to become the first King George winner to follow up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup since Kauto Star in 2006/07.
The last Welsh-trained Gold Cup winner came in 1990, when Norton’s Coin sprung a 100/1 shock for Sirrel Griffiths. Bidding to bring that long wait to an end in 2026 is the Rebecca Curtis representative Haiti Couleurs. Successful in six of eight outings over fences, he handed his trainer a famous success when landing the National Hunt Challenge Cup at this meeting in 2025. Having since added the Irish and Welsh Grand Nationals to his haul, he warmed up with a comfortable win in the Denman Chase and looks set to make a bold bid under champion jockey Sean Bowen.
The fifth runner available to back at a single-figure price is a horse who posted such a brilliant display to win the 2025 edition by six lengths. Judged on his form in 2025/26, Inothewayurthinkin would struggle to win any race at the Cheltenham Festival, let alone the signature event. However, Gavin Cromwell has few peers when it comes to getting a horse to peak when it matters most. If back to his best, the JP McManus-owned runner has every chance of becoming the fourth multiple winner in the 21st century.
Grey Dawning represents British Trainers’ Championship leader Dan Skelton. An impressive winner of the Turners Novices’ Chase at the 2024 Festival, he arrives on the back of a light campaign which included a second career Grade 1 win in the Betfair Chase at Haydock.
Spillane’s Tower adds a strong second string to the McManus bow, having conquered Grey Dawning last time out in the Cotswold Chase at this track. Of the others, Envoi Allen is the old man of the line-up but has already struck three times at this meeting; L’Homme Presse finished fourth in the 2024 edition, and Firefox has placed form at the festival, albeit in the 2024 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. French challenger Gold Tweet rounds out the field but is yet to win in Grade 1 company and looks up against it.
