The 2025 Cheltenham Festival is edging ever closer, which means it’s right on cue for us to bring you the 2025 Prestbury Cup preview for this year’s main event! The Prestbury Cup is a yearly contest between Britain and Ireland to see whether British or Irish trainers come out on top in each of the 28 races at the Cheltenham Festival.
We’ll take you through all you need to know about the Prestbury Cup, which includes the history of the competition, Prestbury Cup betting odds, previous winners, horses to look out for in this year’s Cheltenham Festival, and much more!
What is the Prestbury Cup?
The Prestbury Cup is a competition between Britain and Ireland, where each nation will receive a point based on where the winning horse has been trained. It’s a cup that has been in place since 2014, and all 28 races at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival are included towards the Prestbury Cup, so there’s all to play for!
If either nation gets to 15 wins, then they’ll win the Prestbury Cup, which is something that Ireland have achieved in the last five Cheltenham Festivals.
Britain last won the Prestbury Cup back in 2015, and it seems a tough ask for them to end their ten-year wait for Prestbury Cup glory.
Prestbury Cup 2025 Betting Odds
It won’t be too surprising to hear that Ireland are the overwhelming favourites to win the 2025 Prestbury Cup, and they’re as short as 1/10 (1.10) on Paddy Power to retain the title they’ve won for the last five years. Ireland have been convincing winners in the Prestbury Cup for a number of years now, and will be expected to dominate once again in the 2025 Cheltenham Festival if the favourites come out on top this time round.
Below, you’ll find a table of the Prestbury Cup 2025 betting odds from Paddy Power, who are one of the best betting sites to use for Cheltenham free bets, as they have previously offered daily Cheltenham free bets to both new and existing customers, so they’re well worth considering using if you’re not already signed up to this popular bookmaker.
| Paddy Power Odds | |
| Ireland to win | 1/10 |
| Great Britain to win | 8/1 |
| Tie | 14/1 |
How is the Prestbury Cup won?
With all 28 races from the Cheltenham Festival being included for the Prestbury Cup, it’s a race to secure 15 wins in total, as that would cover the best of 28 situation. With this in mind, it does mean that the Prestbury Cup could already have been won by the third day of racing action at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.
If the scores are tied at 14-14, then the Prestbury Cup will be shared, although that hasn’t occurred since back in 2019, which has been the only tied competition to date. It seems a tall order for British trainers to win the Prestbury Cup this year, especially with the Irish-trained ‘big names’ highly likely to be in contention to win at Cheltenham.
It rarely happens, but on some occasions, a horse trained from neither Ireland or Great Britain can win a race at the Cheltenham Festival, which is why we’ve seen the number of Irish and British wins not total up to 28 to cover all the races in some years at one of the biggest weeks of racing action in the horse racing calendar.
Prestbury Cup: Previous Winners
Recent years make for dismal viewing for British trainers, as they’ve lost the last five Prestbury Cups. There was a narrow 14-14 tie in 2019, which would have been at a sizeable price with most betting sites, but since 2016, it’s a competition that has been dominated by the Irish trainers.
The gap between British and Irish trained winners has only got bigger recently as well, and Britain will be hoping that they can put up somewhat of a fight in the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, as they look to win their first Prestbury Cup since 2015. The likes of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott are some of the best trainers in horse racing, and often do a considerable amount of the lifting for Ireland with wins towards the Prestbury Cup, and this year shouldn’t be any different.
Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the scores from each year of the Prestbury Cup, which displays Ireland’s dominance on this front.
| Year | Irish Wins | British Wins | Winner |
| 2014 | 12 | 15 | Great Britain |
| 2015 | 13 | 14 | Great Britain |
| 2016 | 15 | 13 | Ireland |
| 2017 | 19 | 9 | Ireland |
| 2018 | 17 | 11 | Ireland |
| 2019 | 14 | 14 | Tie |
| 2020 | 17 | 10 | Ireland |
| 2021 | 23 | 5 | Ireland |
| 2022 | 18 | 10 | Ireland |
| 2023 | 18 | 10 | Ireland |
| 2024 | 18 | 9 | Ireland |
Cheltenham Festival Favourites
There are some household names in the world of horse racing taking place at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, and we’ll take you through three favourites that are fancied to win their respective races, which of course will contribute towards either Ireland or Britain’s total for the Prestbury Cup.
Constitution Hill @ 8/15 with Ladbrokes to win the 2025 Champion Hurdle
Where do we even start with this horse? There will have been doubts about Constitution Hill’s fitness heading into the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, but those doubts have been swept aside recently. Constitution Hill is all class, and has won ten races out of ten, which is a quite frankly, ridiculous record for any horse at the very top of horse racing.
The 8-year-old missed last year’s Cheltenham Festival through injury, but got back to winning ways at Kempton, beating the likes of Lossiemouth, which sent out a real statement for all the right reasons.
A comfortable win at Cheltenham earlier this year only shortened the betting odds even further for Constitution Hill to win the 2025 Champion Hurdle, and they’re now priced at 8/15 with Ladbrokes to come out on top.
Jonbon @ 5/6 with Sky Bet to win the 2025 Champion Chase
Jonbon has been in excellent form heading into the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, and due to that, it won’t be at all surprising to see that he’s the odds-on favourite to win the Champion Chase. Five wins from his last five make for hugely impressive viewing, which includes a 6l victory at Ascot earlier this year, where he fought off competition from the likes of Energumene and Edwardstone to name a few. J
Jonbon is no stranger to winning at Cheltenham either, having won there in November. He’s also finished second in this race back in 2023, where he was beaten by El Fabiolo, although it seems likely that Jonbon will avenge that defeat in this year’s Champion Chase.
Jonbon is priced at 5/6 with Sky Bet to come out on top in the 2025 Champion Chase, and it would be a real surprise to not see him beat the likes of Gaelic Warrior, Il Est Francais, and Energumene.
Galopin Des Champs @ 8/15 with Betfair to win the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup
Galopin Des Champs has won the last two Cheltenham Gold Cups, as is well-fancied in the market to make it a hat-trick in this year’s race. This horse actually finished third in a meeting at Punchestown in November, being beaten by Fact To File, which saw doubts as to whether the 9-year-old would be capable of challenging for won of the prize accolades in the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.
However, Galopin Des Champs’ quality has shone through in recent races in 2025, with a 7l victory over Fact To File at Leopardstown being followed up by another convincing win at the same track earlier this year.
With those strong recent showings, it’s of no surprise to see Galopin Des Champs being slashed into an 8/15 favourite on Betfair to win the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Prestbury Cup FAQs
The Prestbury Cup is a competition between trainers from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Whichever trainer wins each race at the Cheltenham Festival, they’ll score a point for their nation in the Prestbury Cup. The winner is whoever has 15 wins, with it technically being a best of 28 format.
The winners of this competition will receive the Prestbury Cup, as well as the bragging rights for another year before the next Cheltenham Festival!
All 28 races at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival count towards the Prestbury Cup, and so it’s all to play for in each race!
Yes. You’ll be able to watch the races that are included in the Prestbury Cup online with your chosen bookmaker (providing they have live-streaming available). It’s worth remembering that you might have to wager a certain amount of funds on the specific race you’re wanting to watch, as some bookmakers don’t always offer free live-streaming.
