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% Irish trained Cheltenham winners by year:
- 1975 to 2014 inclusive:

Alas, the excitement is over and we can all revert to normal life once more. Cheltenham 2014 and particularly Gold Cup day had it all for the Irish. Ahead of Gold Cup day, Irish trainers had saddled 6 winners in the opening 3 days. That figure doubled on the final day, as 6 Irish trained winners were first to cross the line.

Gigginstown House had a quadruple, Willie Mullins secured the champion trainer trophy, Davy Russell had a treble, with one of his mounts the Jim Culloty trained outsider, Lord Windermere winning the Gold Cup at odds of 20-1!

The inaugural Prestbury Cup will go to Great Britain (winning 15-12) but Irish trainers will be extremely happy with their tally of 12 wins out of 27 races. On a winning % basis, this represents Irish trainers 3rd best Cheltenham performance in the last 40 years.

 

Figure 1 below provides a % representation of Irish wins at Cheltenham from 1975 to 2014 for analysis:

Figure 1:       % Irish trained Cheltenham winners by year since 1975

**Note – The 2001 festival was cancelled because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK and Ireland

 

Because the number of Cheltenham races has varied yearly, from 12 in 1978 to 27 in 2014, it was decided that the % Irish trained winners per year was the fairest reflection of Irish success across the 40 years.

 

Observations:
 

  • Had it existed prior to 2014, Ireland would have only won a single Prestbury cup in the last 40 years and would have shared another in 1978 (winning 6 from 12 races).

  • Irish trained horses have on average won 26% of races run at the Cheltenham festival since 1975.

  • Ireland's worst performance of the last 40 years was in 1989 when there was no Irish trained Cheltenham winner.

  • Irish trained winners have been well above average for 8 of the last 10 Cheltenham festivals (2007 and 2012 being the exceptions).

Information Source:      http://racenews.co.uk/prestbury-cup-festival/

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