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For four majestic days, National Hunt racing is the sport that dominates headlines to an unparalleled level. Here’s a look at the six most successful trainers in the history of the Cheltenham Festival.
Willie Mullins – Festival Winners: 103
The juggernaut that is Willie Mullins shows no signs of abating. The soft-spoken Irishman has been crowned leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival an incredible 11 times, with his total winner tally standing at 103.
The likes of Hurricane Fly, Annie Power and six-time Festival winner Quevega are amongst Mullins’ best-known winners but perhaps his magical moment came in 2019 when Al Boum Photo finally saw him landing the Gold Cup.
Mullins cemented his legacy at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, notching his 100th career victory at the prestigious event.
Nicky Henderson – Festival Winners: 73
Nicky Henderson has been saddling Cheltenham Festival winners for nearly four decades and the Seven Barrows supremo shows no signs of slowing down. Henderson has been leading trainer at The Festival on no fewer than nine occasions, sharing the accolade three times in that run.
Caracciola, one of Henderson’s most popular horses in recent years, defied the odds in 2008 by winning the Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket as an 11-year-old, despite being primarily a National Hunt horse.
Sent off at 50/1, he stunned the field before following up with another remarkable victory in the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2009, again under Eddie Ahern. Henderson secured his second Royal Ascot win in 2011 when Veiled landed the Ascot Stakes at 11/2.
In 2013, Bobs Worth, a £20,000 bargain buy, extended his unbeaten Cheltenham record by claiming the Gold Cup, overcoming Henderson’s pre-race concerns about the soft ground.
He’s won six Queen Mother Champion Chases, including in 2018 and 2019 with the superb Altior, but perhaps the rejuvenated Sprinter Sacre’s second win in 2016 is the one Henderson would be least likely to give back.
Paul Nicholls – Festival Winners: 49
Paul Nicholls established himself as one of Cheltenham’s outstanding trainers in the early 2000s when he choreographed the fabulous careers of superstars like Kauto Star, Denman, Big Buck’s and Master Minded – winners of three Gold Cups, four Stayers’ Hurdles and two Champion Chase crowns between them in a golden era for Nicholls’ Ditcheat yard.
Few will ever forget the build-up to the 2008 and 2009 Gold Cups when stablemates Kauto Star and Denman captured the public’s imagination ahead of two bruising battles for the biggest prize in jumps racing.
Kauto Star, winner in 2007 and second to Denman in ’08, became the first and so far only horse to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup when he delivered a flawless performance in 2009.
Fulke Walwyn – Festival Winners: 40
Welsh-born Fulke Walwyn saddled 40 Cheltenham Festival winners across a 40-year stint from 1946-1986. His tally is impressive given there were fewer races to compete for in that era and his record stood until 2012 when a certain N J Henderson overtook him.
Amongst his tally were four Gold Cup and two Champion Hurdles. The great Mill House won the Blue Riband in 1963 before twice finishing second to Arkle in ’64 and ’65. The first of those defeats was arguably one of the best moments of Walwyn’s Cheltenham career, even in finishing second to the great horse.
Gordon Elliott – Festival Winners: 40
Despite having no strong family ties to the sport, Elliott has often been dubbed Irish racing’s ultimate “blow-in”. The son of a panel-beater, he grew up in Summerhill, County Meath, and took his first steps into racing at just 13, spending weekends and holidays working under trainer Tony Martin.
The racing world took notice of Elliott in 2007 when he masterminded Silver Birch’s Grand National triumph at Aintree under Robbie Power. What made the achievement even more remarkable was that he had yet to register a winner in Ireland, with his first five training successes coming in Britain.
Elliott’s Cheltenham Festival record soared to 32 wins in 2020 after an impressive seven victories at the meeting. He missed the following year due to a six-month IHRB suspension but returned in 2022 with two Festival winners.
By the end of the 2024 edition, he had racked up 40 career wins at Cheltenham, ranking joint-fourth among the meeting’s most successful trainers.
Martin Pipe – Festival Winners: 34
The son of a West-Country bookmaker, Pipe went on to become one of Britain’s most successful trainers of all-time, crowned champion trainer on 15 occasions.
He twice won the Champion Hurdle with Granville Again in 1993 and novice Make A Stand in 1997, the latter in the hands of AP McCoy, the perennial champion jockey whose insatiable appetite for winners matched that of Pipe’s.
A Gold Cup eluded Pipe at Cheltenham, but his career was famed for plotting memorable wins in handicaps.
