The Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse has seen a great rivalry between the home team of British-trained runners and those coming across the Irish Sea for many years.
To celebrate this rivalry, an official competition between the two countries was devised in 2014 and titled “The Prestbury Cup”.
The Prestbury Cup runs from the first race of the four-day meeting from the first race on Day One through until either country has 14 winners or more. There are a total of 28 races during the course of The Festival.
The Prestbury Cup, named after the village close to Cheltenham Racecourse, is presented to jockeys and trainers from Ireland or Britain once the winning country is confirmed.
Historical Rivalry
Fierce rivalry between British and Irish trainers has always been a feature of the Cheltenham Festival since the days of Cottage Rake who, in 1948, became the first Irish-trained horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and defended his title in 1949 and 1950.
The duel between Arkle, trained in Ireland, and Mill House, trained in England, in the 60’s stoked up further Irish interest in the Cheltenham Festival.
The Irish ‘invasion’ of Prestbury Park in March each year has been an annual pilgrimage for many long years.
Prestbury Park Results
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2014: Great Britain 15-12
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2015: Great Britain 14-13
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2016: Ireland 15-13
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2017: Ireland 19-9
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2018: Ireland 17-11
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2019: Tie 14-14
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2020: Ireland 17-10
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2021: Ireland 23-5
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2022: Ireland 18-10
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2023: Ireland 18-10
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2024: Ireland 18-9
Prestbury Park Odds
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 5.
It’s therefore perfectly understandable that Ireland are big favourites to secure the title once again in 2025 with the betting as follows:
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Ireland - 1/9
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Tie - 12/1
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Great Britain - 15/2
The reason for Irish dominance in the Prestbury Cup odds is relatively straightforward.
Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Gavin Cromwell and Henry De Bromhead all have impressive records at the Cheltenham Festival and those trainers are highly likely to have multiple victories this year.
Great Britain, who will be led by Nicky Henderson, Dan Skelton and Paul Nicholls, to name but a few, will need some mighty impressive performances to even get near doubles figures for the week. Hence the very lopsided betting.
If you believe Great Britain hold some sort of a chance of dethroning the Irish with a handicap start, then we have the betting market priced up as so:
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Ireland - (-6.5) 4/7
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Great Britain - (+6.5) 5/4
There’s definitely some value to be found in our Cheltenham Festival Specials.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Adobe*
