Cheltenham Festival

Jockeys with the most Cheltenham Festival wins

3 hours ago

| BY News Team

A winner at the Cheltenham Festival is something all jump jockeys want to have on their CVs, preferably in a Championship race.

The competitive, top-level nature of Cheltenham’s contests make this no easy feat, yet some jockeys have managed to become almost synonymous with the Festival by riding so many winners there in their careers.

Read on for a run-down of the all-time best jockeys around Cheltenham, and those on the circuit today who may become challengers to the top spots in time.

Ruby Walsh – 59 Cheltenham Festival wins

With 59 Cheltenham Festival wins to his name, Ruby Walsh is untouchable as the most successful jockey at the meeting. In fact, he was crowned Leading Jockey at the Festival no less than eleven times, with two of these titles coming from having ridden seven winners across the four days.

In 2017, Walsh was the first ever jockey to partner four winners in just one day.

His most significant Cheltenham Festival successes are two Gold Cups (both on Paul Nicholls’ Kauto Star, in 2007 and 2009), four Champion Hurdles and three Champion Chases.

Barry Geraghty – 43 Cheltenham Festival wins

The jockey hottest on the heels of Ruby Walsh is Barry Geraghty with 43 victories at the Cheltenham Festival. At the 2003 renewal, he became Leading Jockey as a result of setting a record with five winners at the Festival and repeated this tally again – as well as winning the Leading Jockey title – in 2012.

Geraghty’s best achievements at the March meeting are two Gold Cups aboard Kicking King (2005) and Bobs Worth (2013), five Champion Chases and four Champion Hurdles.

His last Champion Hurdle victory was in 2020 on one of Nicky Henderson’s many stable stars; Epatante, who retired last year to stud.

Paul Townend – 38 Cheltenham Festival wins

Paul Townend has established himself as one of the most successful riders of the modern era at the Cheltenham Festival, amassing 38 winners at the famous meeting. As the long-time stable jockey for Willie Mullins, Townend has partnered many of the sport’s biggest stars and has become synonymous with success on Cheltenham’s biggest stages. His calm riding style, tactical awareness, and ability to deliver horses at the perfect moment have made him a dominant force at the Festival over the past decade.

Among his most memorable victories are his wins on Al Boum Photo in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2019 and 2020, when the pair produced back-to-back triumphs in the sport’s most prestigious race. Townend has also enjoyed Festival glory aboard stars such as Galopin Des Champs, who provided him with further Gold Cup success, the brilliant chaser Energumene in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, and the outstanding State Man in the Champion Hurdle in 2024. These performances, just to name a few, have helped cement his reputation as a jockey who thrives on racing’s biggest stage.

Sir AP McCoy – 31 Cheltenham Festival wins

As a 20-time Champion Jump Jockey, it’s natural for Sir AP McCoy to have racked up a decent number of Cheltenham Festival victories! Many of those winners came in the famous green and gold silks of JP McManus, for whom McCoy was the retained rider.

With a total of 31 Festival wins, McCoy was Leading Jockey at the Festival twice consecutively in 1997 and 1998. His most significant wins are two Gold Cups (Mr Mulligan, 1997, and Synchronised, 2012), three Champion Hurdles and one Champion Chase.

Pat Taaffe – 25 Cheltenham Festival wins

The fact that only three jockeys have surpassed Pat Taaffe’s Cheltenham Festival-winners count since his death in 1993 speaks volumes of what he achieved during his riding career. Of his 25 Festival wins, a staggering 22 were in steeplechases – a much higher percentage than any other jump jockey.

Undoubtedly, Taaffe’s greatest moments at Cheltenham were all three of Arkle’s sequential Gold Cup victories, the first in 1964. Arkle and Taaffe kept the winning streak through 1965 and 1966 and, when Arkle’s time on the racecourse was over, Taaffe won the Gold Cup again in 1968 aboard Fort Leney.

Richard Johnson – 23 Cheltenham Festival wins

Another unforgettable Cheltenham Festival talent is Richard Johnson, whose tally at the March meeting reached 23. He’s won all four of the championship races at least once, which is an achievement in itself, but his most memorable wins have to be his two Gold Cups. The first of these came in 2000 with Looks Like Trouble, and the second in 2018 with the ever-popular and recently retired Native River.

Johnson won the Champion Chase in 2002 with Flagship Uberalles and the Champion Hurdle the following year with Rooster Booster. He has also racked up a win in the Stayers’ Hurdle and three Triumph Hurdles.

Leading current jockeys at the Cheltenham Festival

With 38 Cheltenham winners already to his name, Paul Townend is firmly among the Festival’s most successful riders. Given his position as Mullins’ number-one jockey and the constant stream of top-class horses at his disposal, he undoubtedly has the capabilities of adding many more victories to this tally. The question now is whether he will ride for long enough to challenge the remarkable 59 Cheltenham wins recorded by Ruby Walsh.

First jockey to Nicky Henderson, Nico de Boinville is next in the total standings with 17, and he could be a force to be reckoned with at the Festival this year and may be the man to claw the title back from the ever-powerful Irish clutches. Henderson’s team of runners is always strong, but the likes of Lulamba, Old Park Star and Jango Baie together may give De Boinville the edge he needs to gain a second title this year.