The December Gold Cup (formerly the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup) is run over 2m5f at Cheltenham’s December Meeting each season around the middle of the month.
In recent years, trainer Paul Nicholls’ has won the prize five times, the most recent being Frodon in 2018. Nicky Henderson is another trainer to look out for - having won the race three times since 2002 – while in 2020, the race was won by the Michael Winters-trained Chatham Street Lad, who was only the third Irish-trained winner of the race in last 20 runnings.
It's also interesting that 24 of the last 25 winners were aged 8 or younger.
It’s generally, been a good contest for the bookmakers with just one winning favourite in the last 20 runnings (last winning market leader was in 2009), but that’s not to say those at the head of the market don’t do well as 12 of the last 20 winners returned 9/1 or shorter in the betting – while three of the last 9 Racing Post Gold Cup winners returned 7/1.
We look back at recent winners and give you all the trends that matter ahead of the 2022 renewal – this year run on Saturday December 10th.
Recent December Gold Cup Winners
2021 – Coole Cody (12/1)
2020 - Chatham Street Lad (16/1)
2019 – Warthog (7/1)
2018 – Frodon (7/1)
2017 – Guitar Pete (9/1)
2016 – Frodon (14/1)
2015 – Villiage Vic (8/1)
2014 – Niceonefrankie (16/1)
2013 – Double Ross (7/1)
2012 – Unioniste (15/2)
2011 – Quantitativeeasing (6/1)
2010 – Poquelin (16/1)
2009 – Poquelin (7/2 fav)
2008 – Abandoned
2007 – Tamarinbleu (22/1)
2006 – Exotic Dancer (8/1)
2005 – Sir Oj (16/1)
2004 – Monkerhostin (4/1)
2003 – Iris Royal (7/1)
2002 – Fondmort (5/1)
2001 – Abandoned
2000 – Go Roger Go (7/1)
December Gold Cup Betting Trends
19/20 – Aged 8 or younger
18/20 – Ran within the last 6 weeks
16/20 – Had won over at least 2m4f (fences) before
15/20 – Placed in the top 3 last time out
15/20 - Went onto run at the Cheltenham Festival later that season (2 winners, Frodon – Ryanair Chase and Coole Cody – Plate)
15/20 – Had won between 2-4 times over fences before
14/20 – Had raced at Cheltenham (fences) before (6 won)
13/20 – Returned 9/1 or shorter in the betting
13/20 – Officially rated 141 or higher
12/20 – Aged 6 or 7 years-old
12/20 – Unplaced favourites
11/20 – French bred
9/20 – Carried 10-12 or more
9/20 – Ran at Cheltenham last time out
9/20 – Ran in the Paddy Power (Nov) Gold Cup last time out (1 won)
6/20 – Finished in the top 5 in the Paddy Power Gold Cup last time out
5/20 – Trained by Paul Nicholls
5/20 – Won last time out
3/20 – Trained by Nicky Henderson
3/20 – Went to an Irish-trained horse
2/20 – Trained by David Pipe
2/20 – Ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies
1/20 – Winning favourites
The average winning SP in the last 20 runnings is 10/1
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