Ireland v Britain Cheltenham 2024 - Prestbury Cup Betting Preview

Check out our Prestbury Cup preview as we look forward to another battle at Cheltenham between Ireland and Britain!

What is the Prestbury Cup?

One of the most prominent features of the Cheltenham Festival is the rivalry between the best horses from Britain facing off against the best horses from Ireland.

To mark this rivalry, the Prestbury Cup was inaugurated in 2014 and the trophy would be awarded to the jurisdiction which trained the most winners across the four-day festival at Cheltenham. There are 28 races across the week and so the first country to win 15 takes home the cup.

In 2023 Ireland won the event 18-10 which means they have won every Prestbury Cup since 2020 after drawing 14 all in 2019. Ireland has won the Prestbury Cup 7 times (2023, 2022, 2021, 2018, 2017 and 2016)  they have drawn once (14-14 in 2019), and Britain have won on 2 occasions (2015 and 2014).

Last year such was the Irish dominance that they had secured the Prestbury Cup with a day to spare, finishing the event with an 18-10 victory. With Irish trainer, Willie Mullins earning the top trainer prize in the last 5 seasons and with up to 10 ante-post favourites, it’s very unlikely Britain will lay glove on Ireland again this year.

Where does the name come from?

The competition is named after the nearest village to Cheltenham Racecourse and is presented to jockeys and trainers from the winning area once the winning country is confirmed.

The Cup itself has been sealed with some hallowed Cheltenham turf, so the winning country will be taking a little bit of Cheltenham with them.

Since March 2023 the competition has been sponsored by  Luxury drinks brand The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.

Prestbury Cup Stats

Since the Prestbury Cup began in 2014, Ireland has had a total of 166 winners at Cheltenham Festival an average of 16.6 winners per festival with the most dominant year being 2023 when they won 23 races and the worst year being the inaugural year where Ireland had 12 winners.

Britain has had a total of 111 winners since the cross-jurisdiction competition element was introduced that’s an average of 11.1 winners per year with their best year coming in 2015 with 15 winners and their worst coming in 2021 with only 5.

Let’s take a brief look at the potential runners and riders across the 4 days of the festival and what that could mean for the destination of the Prestbury Cup.

Tuesday

Opening day of Cheltenham is expected to prove a difficult nut to crack for Britain, with Willie Mullins bringing the current top-three in the betting market for the opening race, the Supreme Novices Hurdle with Ballyburn, Tullyhill and Mystical Power.

The top of the betting market for the Arkle is also dominated by the Irish, and State Man is currently a huge 1/2 favourite for the Champion Hurdle.

Britain’s best chance will be the Ultima Handicap which they’ve 10 of the last 10 winners but Meetingoofthewaters the current 5/1 favourite is trained by Willie Mullins who also has the Mares Hurdle favourite Lossiemouth at 1/2 and National Hunt favourite Embassy Gardens at 7/4.

Wednesday

It doesn’t get much easier for Britain on the second day of the festival, the only Brittish-trained winner last year was Langer Dan’s trained by Dan Skelton who won the Coral Cup.

The Irish team has plenty of high-profile favourites on this day with Fact To File (Brown Advisory) El Fabiolo (Champion Chase) and perhaps even Ballyburn (Baring Bingham) considered leading fancies with lengths to spare on their competition.

Interestingly, Langer Dan is 7/1 second favourite to land the Coral Cup for the second successive year and could be one of Britain’s main chances on the day.

Thursday

The third day of Cheltenham might start brighter for Britain with Ginny’s Destiny, Iroko and Grey Dawning all expected to be major contenders for the Tuners Novices Chase for the opening race of the day.

However, the Irish again are dominating the top of the betting market for the rest of the races with El  Fabiolo (Ryanair Chase), Teahupoo (Stayers Hurdle) and Brighterdaysahead (Mares Novices Hurdle) all market leaders for the Irish.

Friday

Britain had 4 winners on the final day last year, and that looks to be their brightest chance of success come Cheltenham time, although it may prove too little too late for their Prestbury Cup prospects.

Sir Gino is (Triumph Hurdle) is a heavy favourite for Britain to land the opening race of the day, The Albert Bartlett looks open up Willie Mullins has the favourite Readin Tommy Wrong for Ireland and Galopins Des Champs for the Gold Cup.

Ferns Lock is one of their leading players on the day for the Hunters Chase.

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