Cheltenham Gold Cup Predictions, Betting Tips & Odds (Cheltenham 2022 - DAY 4)
- Written by David Bet
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the most prestigious prize in steeplechasing and the feature race of the Cheltenham Festival. Run over 3 miles and 2½ furlongs on Cheltenham Racecourse’s new course, the Cheltenham Gold Cup is open to racehorses aged five and above. Henry de Bromhead trained the first two home in the 2021 Cheltenham Gold Cup, as Minella Indo got the better of stablemate A Plus Tard at odds of 9/1. This article contains our 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup betting preview, with picks, predictions, best odds, trends and no deposit free bets.
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CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP BETTING PREVIEW
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the highlight of the four days of the Festival, with the best chasers in the UK and Ireland taking on each other in the most anticipated race of the year. It's a Grade 1 chase covering three miles and about two and half furlongs, for horses aged five years and upwards. The Gold Cup runners have twenty-two jumps to face before a gruelling climb up the Cheltenham hill.
A strong pace usually means this becomes a war of attrition up the hill, and stamina rather than speed is the essential requirement. Defending champion Minella Indo is sure to be back to defend his title and will be tough to beat.
We take a closer look at this year's Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup and try to determine which horse is likely to prevail in the big race.
Who will win the Cheltenham Gold Cup 2022?
A PLUS TARD is the 2021 runner-up, as he finished just over a lenghts behind stable mate Minella Indo. He was an impressive winner of the Betfair Chase earlier in the season, thrashing Royale Pagaille by 22 lengths. He was then odds-on to retain his Savills Chase crown, but didn’t produce his most fluent round of jumping and was collared on the line by Galvin.
GALVIN, who landed the National Hunt Chase at this meeting 12 months ago, has won seven out of the 12 chases, including three second places. He was particularly impressive when he landed the Savills Steeplechase at Leopardstown Christmas Festival, ridden by Davy Russell. That was Galvin’s first success at Grade 1 level.
Reigning Champion MINELLA INDO has struggled in recent top-class company in the King George VI Chase and was over six lengths behind Conflated at the Dublin Racing Festival. He has won two of his three races at the Festival, with the defeat a narrow one length behind Champ in the RSA Chase back in 2020.
PROTEKTORAT off an impressive novice campaign with an excellent win in the Manifesto Novices’ Chase at Aintree in the spring. He finished a staying-on second in the Paddy Power Gold Cup on his reappearance and then blew Native River, Simply The Betts and Imperial Aura away with a 25-length triumph in the Many Clouds Chase.
AL BOUM PHOTO lost his Gold Cup crown in 2021 after two consecutive victories in 2019 and 2020. He finished third that day, but ground conditions were a little quicker than he would have ideally liked. He is 10 years old now but his four-length defeat of Burrows Saint at Tramore on New Year’s Day suggests he’s not far away from being as good as ever.
Dark horses?
TORNADO FLYER surprisingly won the King George on Boxing Day. Willie Mullins’ star was impressive coming down the straight and comfortably saw off Clan Des Obeaux to win his first Grade One race. He has been to Cheltenham three times before and never managed better than third place.
ROYALE PAGAILLE finished sixth in this race as a novice 12 months ago. Venetia Williams’ star jumped beautifully when winning his second Peter Marsh earlier this year but was beaten by A plus Tard by 22 lengths in the Betfair Chase.
CHANTRY HOUSE enjoyed himself last year when beating Fusil Raffles by three lengths in the Marsh Novices' Chase. He was pulled up at Kempton in the King George on Boxing Day where he clearly failed to give his true running he cushioned either side of that performance with wins at Sandown and again over this course and just shy of the Gold Cup distance.
ASTERION FORLONGE is quite unredictable. He signed off last season with a romp off a mark of 152 in a Punchestown handicap but has failed to complete in four of first nine chases. He was only fourth last time, which is a no-no and leaves him with a mountain to climb.
AYE RIGHT, third in the Ultima Handicap Chase last year, was last seen when finishing third to Chantry House in the Cotswold Chase, beaten by 5 lenghts. Interestingly, he will run for the first time for his new stable, but he remains an outsider.
SANTINI finished a close second in 2020 Gold Cup but has not been the same horse since, looking a hard ride on occasions. He has shown signs of revival in his narrow defeat behind former stablemate Chantry House last time. Not enough to compete with the best horses in toughest race.
The section below contains the most backed entries at the moment:
All the bookmakers we recommend are offering No Runner No Bet on every Cheltenham Festival race.
CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP TRENDS
- Just 4 of last 12 winners were favourites/joint favourites
- 19 of the 21 winners were priced 9/1 or less
- 17 of the 21 winners had won (10) or placed (7) at the Festival before
- 9 of the last 11 winners have won last time out (16 of the 21 winners overall)
- The last 10 wnners had not run for at least 33 days before the Gold Cup
- 11 of the last 12 winners had at least 1 previous win over 24 furlongs or further
- 9 of the last 10 winners were officially rated 164 or higher
- 20 of the 21 winners were aged between 7-9
CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP PREDICTIONS
Find here our recommended bets on the Cheltenham Gold Cup 2022. Feel free to copy our Cheltenham Festival expert picks and get the highest odds available on the market by clicking the 'Bet' button! Plus, we suggest you to visit our Enhanced Odds section to claim boosted prices.
2022 CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP FREE BETS
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2022 CHELTENHAM DAY 4 TIPS AND PREDICTIONS
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2022 CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP FAQs
What time is the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the 4th and feature race run on Day 4 of the Cheltenham Festival. That falls on Friday March 18, 2022 and the official starting time is 3:30pm.
How many obstacles are jumped in the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
There are 22 obstacles to jump for the Cheltenham Gold Cup runners
What is the distance of the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is run on a distance of 3 miles 2 and a half furlongs
What is the prize money for the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
The total prize money on offer for the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival will be £625,000.
Who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup last year?
Last year's renewal was won by Minella Indo at SP of 10/3, trained by Henry De Bromhead and ridden by Jack Kennedy.
What weights are carried for the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
11st 8lb (5yo). 11st 10lb (6yo+), with a 7lb allowance for mares.
Who is the leading jockey in the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
Thanks to Al Boum Photo, Paul Townend is the only current jockey to win the race more than once in recent history. Nico De Boinville went very close to record his second success - after Coneygree in 2015 - with Santini in 2020.
Who is the leading trainer in the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
No modern trainer has saddled more winners than Paul Nicholls. Plus, Nicky Henderson has saddled two winners and three placed horses from just 10 runners.
