A familiar favourite with fresh new sponsorship, the BetMGM Cup is one of the most fiercely run races at the Cheltenham Festival. Formerly known as the Coral Cup, they’ve pulled out of sponsorship now and BetMGM have stepped up to take over.
A big field, fast pace, plenty of horses that think they’re well handicapped, it’s a puzzle for punters to solve on Cheltenham day two and a race to really get your teeth into.
Added to the meeting in 1993, the race has been called the Coral Cup all the way through until 2025, with BetMGM taking over for the 2026 running.
The race has had the same sponsor but has not had the same make up. This was actually a listed contest to begin with, adding a lower-grade hurdle race at the middle-distance trip.
However, now it is a handicap, and a tough one at that. The race comes as the third contest of the second day, directly before the Cross Country Chase, one of the most liked races at the meeting.
Race Facts
The Coral Cup is run over a distance of two miles and five furlongs, with ten hurdles that need to be cleared along the route. Run left-handed on the Old Course, this race is open to four-year-old horses and over.
This is a handicap race, so there are no specific weight restrictions on the horses that enter. Instead some of them will be given extra weight by the handicapper in order to ensure that the field is fair and as equal as possible for the running.
An excellent race to look for outsiders in with the average winner odds since 2000 around 17/1 with favourites winning just 12% of the time.
Records For Most Wins
| Record Type | No of Wins | Record Holder |
|---|---|---|
| Horse | 2 | Langer Dan |
| Trainer | 5 | Nicky Henderson |
| Jockey | 3 | Davy Russell & Barry Geraghty |
Race Trends: Winners Since 2000
Previous Winners
| Year | Winner | Age | Odds | Prize | Jockey / Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Jingko Blue | 7 | 9/5 F | £61,897 |
J: James Bowen
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2025 | Jimmy Du Seuil | 6 | 16/1 | £61,897 |
J: D E Mullins
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2024 | Langer Dan | 7 | 13/2 | £56,270 |
J: Harry Skelton
T: Dan Skelton
|
| 2023 | Langer Dan | 7 | 9/1 | £56,270 |
J: Harry Skelton
T: Dan Skelton
|
| 2022 | Commander Of Fleet | 8 | 50/1 | £56,270 |
J: Shane Fitzgerald
T: G Elliott
|
| 2021 | Heaven Help Us | 7 | 33/1 | £42,202 |
J: R J Condon
T: P Hennessy
|
| 2020 | Dame De Compagnie | 7 | 5/1 F | £56,270 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2019 | William Henry | 9 | 28/1 | £56,270 |
J: N de Boinville
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2018 | Bleu Berry | 7 | 20/1 | £56,950 |
J: M P Walsh
T: W P Mullins
|
| 2017 | Supasundae | 7 | 16/1 | £54,102.50 |
J: Robbie Power
T: Mrs John Harrington
|
| 2016 | Diamond King | 8 | 12/1 | £51,255 |
J: Davy Russell
T: G Elliott
|
| 2015 | Aux Ptits Soins | 5 | 9/1 | £45,560 |
J: Sam Twiston-Davies
T: P F Nicholls
|
| 2014 | Whisper | 6 | 14/1 | £45,560 |
J: N de Boinville
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2013 | Medinas | 6 | 33/1 | £45,560 |
J: Wayne Hutchinson
T: A King
|
| 2012 | Son of Flicka | 8 | 16/1 | £39,865 |
J: Jason Maguire
T: Donald McCain
|
| 2011 | Carlito Brigante | 5 | 16/1 | £39,907 |
J: Davy Russell
T: G Elliott
|
| 2010 | Spirit River | 5 | 14/1 | £42,757.50 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: N J Henderson
|
| 2009 | Ninetieth Minute | 6 | 14/1 | £45,608 |
J: P W Flood
T: T J Taaffe
|
| 2008 | Naiad Du Misselot | 7 | 7/1 | £45,616 |
J: Davy Russell
T: Ferdy Murphy
|
| 2007 | Burntoakboy | 9 | 10/1 | £45,616 |
J: Sam Jones
T: Dr Richard Newland
|
| 2006 | Sky's The Limit | 5 | 11/1 | £42,765 |
J: Barry Geraghty
T: E J O'Grady
|
| 2005 | Idole First | 6 | 33/1 | £43,500 |
J: Alan O'Keeffe
T: V Williams
|
| 2004 | Monkerhostin | 7 | 13/2 | £43,500 |
J: Richard Johnson
T: Philip Hobbs
|
| 2003 | Xenophon | 7 | 4/1 F | £43,500 |
J: Mick Fitzgerald
T: A J Martin
|
| 2002 | Ilnamar | 6 | 25/1 | £42,000 |
J: Rodi Greene
T: D Pipe
|
| 2000 | What's Up Boys | 6 | 33/1 | £39,000 |
J: Paul W Flynn
T: Philip Hobbs
|
Race Trivia
When the horse trained by Jessica Harrington, Supasundae, won the Coral Cup in 2017 he made a little bit of Cheltenham Festival history. It was the ninth horse trained by Harrington that had won at a Cheltenham Festival meeting, making her the most successful female trainer ever at the venue. Prior to the race both Harrington and Jenny Pitman had achieved eight wins at the Festival, but Supasundae took Harrington to her record nine wins.
When Olympian won the first ever running of the Coral Cup back in 1993 he was given an additional £50,000 in prize money. That was because he had won the Imperial Cup at Sandown Park the weekend before and the organisers of that race offer an incentive of extra money if the winner of the Imperial Cup goes on to win a race at Cheltenham. Back then it was an unlisted race, gaining promotion to being a Grade 3 event in 1999. It was converted to a Premier Handicap, the new name for Grade 3 handicaps, in 2023.
Despite not being restricted to novices, only one horse has ever won this race more than once. That took until 2024 too with Langer Dan winning in 2023 and 2024 for Dan and Harry Skelton.
The same cannot be said for jockeys, with Davy Russell and Barry Geraghty having won it on three different occasions. Nico de Boinville and Harry Skelton are the only other jockeys to have won it more than once, de Boinville winning it in 2014 and then 2019.
Nicky Henderson has won the race five times as a trainer and Martin Pipe has won it three times. Pipe trained the inaugural winner of the race in 1993.
Langer Dan the First and Only Dual Winner
Not all Cheltenham races are eligible to be won twice, of course, depending on the status of the race. However, some are, but doing that is not something you can do lightly, and that’s especially the case for handicaps at the festival, which are even harder to win twice.
This race is difficult, and in over 30 years, just one horse has managed to come here and win it twice. That horse is Langer Dan from the Dan Skelton yard. He would take this race in 2023, before coming back 12 months later and winning it again in 2024.
It was a great training performance by Skelton, as the reason why handicaps are hard to win twice is due to the rise in the weights that horses receive. Somehow, and many people to this day still aren’t sure, Skelton was able to lower Langer Dan’s handicap mark over the course of the year, so when he won both races, he was running off exactly the same mark, of 141.
Some call it good training, others say Skelton purposefully left his horse with plenty to work on and didn’t put him into a race properly, with the intention of lowering his mark. Whatever it was, it led to the only dual winner of this race since it began.