We are all well aware that Ruby Walsh, Tony McCoy and Barry Geraghty were the top Cheltenham Festival jockeys for many a season.
Most Cheltenham Festival Wins - Active Jockeys:
- Paul Townend - 34 Cheltenham Festival winners
- Nico de Boinville - 16 Cheltenham Festival winners
- Rachael Blackmore - 16 Cheltenham Festival winners
- Jack Kennedy - 11 Cheltenham Festival winners
However, retired jockeys no longer make you any money on the punting front so it’s well worth knowing who the leading “current” jockeys are at Cheltenham before undertaking your horse racing betting there.
Paul Townend
As the number one jockey to Willie Mullins, the most successful trainer in Cheltenham Festival history, Paul Townend goes into the meeting with a belt full of ammunition and it is easy to see why his win strike rate is far superior to his rivals.
Five winners in 2020, 2022 and 2023 was Townend’s best result until in 2024 he had his best Festival to date landing six winners from just fifteen rides, which was a 40% strike rate.
Unsurprisingly 33 of 34 wins have come when teaming up with Willie Mullins, so in general his Cheltenham odds tend to be short.
Nico de Boinville
Thanks in the main to being the principle jockey in Nicky Henderson’s stable, De Boinville has won 16 races at the Cheltenham Festival.
His first came aboard Whisper in the Coral Cup in 2014, but 12 months later he rose to prominence when he guided Coneygree to glory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup for trainers Mark and Sara Bradstock.
In 2016, he helped Sprinter Sacre win the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Altior land the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.
He took the Queen Mother twice with Altior and the duo also won the Arkle in 2017. Four years later he won the race with Shishkin.
His last win at the Festival came in 2023, when he partnered Constitution Hill to glory in the Champion Hurdle. He was sidelined with an injury in 2024.
Rachael Blackmore
Come the conclusion of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, Rachael Blackmore had partnered 16 winners at the National Hunt showpiece.
Blackmore’s first Festival success came on A Plus Tard in the Centenary Novices' Handicap Chase in 2019, while she also won the Albert Bartlett that season on Minella Indo. Both horses would go on to win the Gold Cup.
Her name was synonymous with the mare Honeysuckle who she had the pleasure of capturing two Champion Hurdles with.
Rachael Blackmore was voted the most iconic Gold Cup winner in the 100-year history of the race after her Cheltenham triumph on A Plus Tard, beating legendary horses including Arkle, Desert Orchid, Kauto Star and Denman in the poll.
Jack Kennedy
Jack Kennedy was just 17 years old when he partnered his first winner at the Cheltenham Festival when the Gordon Elliott-trained Labaik won the Supreme Novices' Hurdle in 2017.
The following year, he won four races at the Cheltenham Festival matching the tally of the week's leading rider, Davy Russell, but missing out on the top jockey prize because Russell bagged more places on the count back rule.
Kennedy missed the 2020 and 2023 Festivals through injury, but brought his Cheltenham Festival tally to 11 winners when taking the Stayers' Hurdle on the Gordon Elliott-trained Teahupoo in March 2024.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
