December Gold Cup Trends 2023: Key Stats To Find Saturday’s Cheltenham Winner

Use our December Gold Cup trends to help find the winner of Saturday’s big Cheltenham handicap. You can apply these stats to the final runners when announced on Thursday to put history on your side and showcase the horses with the best winning profiles.

December Gold Cup Trends: A Look Back At The Last 20 Runnings

You can see the key Cheltenham December Gold Cup trends and stats from the last 20 runnings of the race. Note, last year’s renewal (2022) was called off due to a frozen track.

So, with the race never rescheduled, the last winner was Coole Cody in 2021.

• 19/20 – Aged 8 or younger
• 18/20 – Raced in the last 6 weeks
• 16/20 – Won over at least 2m4f (fences) before
• 15/20 – Won between 2-4 times over fences
• 15/20 – Top 3 finish last time out
• 15/20 – Ran at the Cheltenham Festival later that season (2 winners, Frodon – Ryanair Chase and Coole Cody – Plate)
• 14/20 – Ran at Cheltenham (fences) (6 won)
• 13/20 – Officially rated 141+
• 13/20 – Priced 9/1 or shorter in the betting
• 12/20 – Favourites unplaced
• 12/20 – Aged 6 or 7 years-old
• 11/20 – French bred
• 9/20 – Raced at Cheltenham last time out
• 9/20 – Raced in the Paddy Power (Nov) Gold Cup last time out (1 won)
• 6/20 – Placed  in the top 5 in the Paddy Power Gold Cup last time out
• 5/20 – Won last time out
• 5/20 – Won by the Paul Nicholls yard
• 3/20 – Irish-trained winners
• 2/20 – Ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies
• 1/20 – Favourites
• The average winning SP in the last 20 runnings is 10/1

December Gold Cup Stats and Trends 2023

We’ve highlighted the best Cheltenham stats below to apply to the final December Gold Cup runners. These should help you whittle down the entries and give you a chance to put history in your betting corner.

Favourites

The December Gold Cup has been a graveyard race for favourites in recent times. We’ve only seen one winning market leader reward favourite backers since 2000 and that was the Paul Nicholls-trained Poquelin in 2009 (7/2 fav).

This favourites trend is also backed up with 60% of the last 20 December Gold Cup favourites also being unplaced.

• December Gold Cup Favourite: Thunder Rock

Trainers

Since 1999 we’ve seen many different yards in the December Gold Cup. These include Nicky Henderson (2), David Pipe (2) and Jonjo O’Neill (2). While Venetia Williams won the race in 2014 and Nigel Twiston-Davies in 2013.

Of that bunch, Henderson and Pipe don’t have any entries this year, Williams has Frero Banbou plus Twiston-Davies has Torn And Frayed heading to post.

However, the yard with the standout record in the race is Paul Nicholls. The Ditcheat handler has won the December Gold Cup five times in the past, with his most recent Frodon in 2016 and 2018.

No trainer has won the December Gold Cup more times than Paul Nicholls.

• Paul Nicholls Runners: Monmiral and Il Ridoto

Age

Last December Gold Cup winner was Coole Cody in 2021 as the race was abandoned 12 months ago. This Evan Williams runner was aged 10 at the time and become the oldest winner of the race since Garnishee in 1974.

Therefore, horses aged in double-figures have history against them here. While we can take this age trend even further with 95% of the last 20 winners also aged 8 or younger.

At the other end of the age spectrum, the race has also thrown up a few 4 year-old winners in recent times too. Both were trained by Paul Nicholls – Unioniste (2012) and Frodon (2016).

While with 14 of the last 22 (64%) aged 6 or 7 this age range is certainly worth having on side.

• Horses Aged 9+: Torn and Frayed, Do Your Job
• Horses Aged 6 or 7: Thunder Rock, Monmiral, Il Ridoto, So Scottish, Grandeur D’Ame & Jay Jay Reilly

Form

Having a run in the last six weeks has helped over the years, with 90% of the last 20 winners ticking this December Gold Cup trend.

Also note horses that have already won over 2m4f (16/20) and head into the race off the back of a solid recent run. This is backed up with 15 of the last 20 winners (75%) finishing in the top three last time out.

The final form trend to look out for is a run in that season’s Paddy Power Gold Cup as 45% of the last 20 winners ran in that November Cheltenham race, with 30% of those having been placed in the top five in it too. 25% of the last 20 winners also came here off the back of a win.

The 2023 Paddy Power Gold Cup was run on Saturday 18th November – watch below.

• Horses That Ran In The 2023 Paddy Power Gold Cup: Il Ridoto (3rd), Fugitif (4th), Torn and Frayed (Fell)
• Horses With a Top 3 Finish Last Time: Thunder Rock, Il Ridoto, Fakir D’oudairies, Frero Banbou, Grandeur D’ Ame & Hurricane Railway
• Horse That Won Last Time: Thunder Rock, Grandeur D’ Ame

Weight

Finally, being a handicap then weight carried is worth a second glance too.

13 of the last 20 winners were rated 141 or higher, but with 9 of the last 11 winners (82%) having 10st 11lbs or less in their backs.

The horses with 10-13 or less are all bar the top-weight Fakir D’oudairies and Fugitif.

While the JP McManus-owned Fakir D’oudairies will be looking to become the first horse to win with 12st since Pendil won with 12st 7lbs in 1973. More recently Frodon lumped 11st 12lbs home in 2018.

When Is The December Gold Cup 2023?

📅Date: Saturday 16th December 2023
🕙Time: 1:50pm
🏇Racecourse: Cheltenham (2m 4 1/2f)
💰 Winner: £74,035.00
📺 TV: ITV / Racing TV

See the full race times and schedule for the 2023 Cheltenham December Meeting here.

December Gold Cup Betting Odds

See below the best December Gold Cup odds from BetMGM, where you can also get a £40 free bet after staking your first £10. If you’ve already got a BetMGM account you can find more top UK horse racing betting sites here.

• Thunder Rock 3/1
• Monmiral 11/2
• So Scottish 11/2
• Il Ridoto 6/1
• Fugitif 7/1
• Fakir D’Oudairies 8/1
• Frero Banbou 11/1
• Grandeur D’ame 14/1
• Torn And Frayed 18/1
• Railway Hurricane 18/1
• Jay Jay Reilly 25/1
• Do Your Job 33/1

Note: Odds are subject to change and others on request

1.

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December Gold Cup Winners (Last 10 Years)

• 2022 – No Race
• 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 – Village Vic (8/1)
• 2014 – Niceonefrankie (16/1)
• 2013 – Double Ross (7/1)

WATCH: Coole Cody Winning The 2021 December Gold Cup