We count down the 10 trainers with the most Cheltenham wins and list the leading candidates to be the top trainer at the 2026 Festival.
The Cheltenham Festival is the biggest meeting in the jump racing calendar, and the one that many trainers will build their entire season around.
Horses will be campaigned all year with a Cheltenham bid in mind, with a Festival win being one of the targets at the top of any aspiring trainer’s list.
The greatest trainers in racing history built their legends at Cheltenham, and here we list the most successful in history.
Read on to find out who tops the list, and check out our Cheltenham betting page for all the latest odds, and our Cheltenham races guide for all the information you need ahead of the 2026 Festival.
The trainers with the most Cheltenham wins
We’ve put together a handy list of the Cheltenham Festival’s most successful trainers, so you can see how each entrant on our list stacks up before learning more about each of them. Here’s our top ten at a quick glance:
Willie Mullins (113 wins)
Nicky Henderson (75 wins)
Paul Nicholls (50 wins)
Gordon Elliott (41 wins)
Fulke Walwyn (40 wins)
Martin Pipe (34 wins)
Fred Winter (28 wins)
Fred Rimell (27 wins)
Jonjo O’Neill and Tom Dreaper (26 wins)
More information about the leading Cheltenham trainers
Learn more about the top trainers at Cheltenham, with a quick fact file on each of our entrants:
1. Willie Mullins – 113
By far the most successful trainer in Cheltenham Festival history is Willie Mullins. He has been a dominant force in Irish jump racing and has even landed two first trainers’ titles in Britain.
The list of Willie Mullins’ Cheltenham winners is incredibly long, as he’s saddled 113 victors here since becoming a trainer in 1988. Some of his most notable horses include Galopin Des Champs and Al Boum Photo, who are both two-time Gold Cup Winners.
Impressively, became the first to saddle 100 winners at the big meeting when Jasmin De Vaux landed the Champion Bumper in 2024. Mullins is rightly likely to be the favourite in the Cheltenham betting to come out on top as the leading trainer again, so if you’re looking to take a punt at a winner, keep an eye out for his name.
2. Nicky Henderson – 75
Nicky Henderson lost the leading Cheltenham Festival trainer tag to Mullins in 2018, having assumed the status from Fulke Walwyn in 2012.
Henderson, one of the top jumps trainers in Britain over many decades, remains a main player at Prestbury Park, having saddled 75 winners at the Festival.
See You Then was a first Festival winner for Henderson in the Champion Hurdle in 1985, and the leading British trainer has enjoyed many other memorable days at Cheltenham since. Some of Nicky Henderson’s Cheltenham winners include the likes of Sprinter Sacre, Altior, and Constitution Hill.
With Long Run and Bobs Worth, he has also trained two winners of the Gold Cup – the Festival’s most prestigious race, with the highest Cheltenham prize money of any race.
3. Paul Nicholls – 50
Paul Nicholls is just the third trainer to saddle 50 winners at the Cheltenham Festival. He passed the milestone in 2025, when Caldwell Potter placed first in the Golden Millers’ Novice Chase, earning Nicholls his second win in the event.
The Ditcheat trainer first claimed the Gold Cup with See More Business in 1999, but he enjoyed a particularly memorable three years from 2007 to 2009. In that time, he won two consecutive Gold Cups with Kauto Star, before Denman’s victory secured him a hat trick.
Big Buck’s, a four-time Stayers’ Hurdle winner, and dual Champion Chase winner Master Minded have been other Cheltenham stars for Nicholls.
4. Gordon Elliott – 41
Gordon Elliott is Mullins’ closest challenger in Ireland, and the Cullentra trainer has celebrated 41 winners at the Cheltenham Festival since making his breakthrough in 2011.
Don Cossack sealed a Gold Cup success for Elliott in 2016, while his most famous horse, the two-time Grand National winner Tiger Roll, won the Triumph Hurdle, National Hunt Chase and two runnings of the Cross Country Chase at the meeting.
5. Fulke Walwyn – 40
The late Fulke Walwyn was one of the most successful jumps trainers of a generation, and held the record for winners at the Cheltenham Festival for many years.
Walwyn, who won the Grand National during his riding days, trained four winners of the Gold Cup, including Mill House and The Dikler, and two Champion Hurdle winners.
Although he passed in 1991, his legacy continues, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir – an amateur riders’ handicap chase – is named in his memory at the Festival.
6. Martin Pipe – 34
Martin Pipe was a trendsetter for training methods and celebrated 34 winners at the Cheltenham Festival. While past trainers favoured long gallops to build their horses’ stamina, Pipe pioneered an interval training style that opened up new horizons in the racing world.
Pipe was a trainer to keep on side in the Festival handicaps and also enjoyed success in the main prizes, including with Granville Again and the novice Make A Stand in the Champion Hurdle.
The conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle, the final race of the Festival each year, is named in honour of Pipe.
7. Fred Winter – 28
Not only is Fred Winter one of the best trainers to ever saddle a horse at Prestbury Park, but he also ranks as one of Cheltenham’s most successful jockeys. He won the Gold Cup twice as a jockey and once as a trainer – the latter courtesy of Midnight Court.
Winter, who trained 28 Cheltenham winners in total, was also an eight-time British jump racing Champion Trainer. He is commemorated in the race title for the juvenile handicap hurdle on the opening day of the Festival.
8. Fred Rimell – 27
Fred Rimell was another champion jockey to become a champion trainer. He was well known for his fine record in the Grand National but also trained 27 winners at the Cheltenham Festival.
Some of his most notable horses include Woodland enture and Royal Frolic, who each earned a Gold Cup for the Brit. After his death in 1981, his widow, Mercy Rimell, continued his legacy by training many other world-class winners.
-9. Jonjo O’Neill – 26
A successful jockey in the 1970s and 1980s, Jonjo O’Neill enjoyed career-highlight days at the Cheltenham Festival aboard Sea Pigeon and Dawn Run. Since the turn of the millennium, he has trained 27 winners at the event.
The JP McManus-owned Synchronised won the Gold Cup for O’Neill in 2012, and the trainer now shares his licence with son AJ.
-9. Tom Dreaper – 26
Tying with Jonjo O’Neill to round out our list is Tom Dreaper. He was the trainer of the legendary Flyingbolt and Arkle, who are both regarded as two of the best horses in Cheltenham history. The former amateur jockey turned to training after a serious fall hospitalised him for eight weeks in 1938.
Dreaper won the Gold Cup a record five times, and he shares the Champion Chase record of six winners with Henderson and Nicholls.
The leading trainers at Cheltenham 2026
Willie Mullins is the most successful trainer in Cheltenham history and will again be looking to get to double figures at this year’s Festival. Mullins trains some of the most well-known horses in racing, such as Galopin Des Champs and State Man.
Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Dan Skelton are also likely to be amongst the winners with strong Festival squads for the British.
The likes of Gordon Elliott, Joseph O’Brien, and Henry de Bromhead will all be aiming to give Mullins plenty to think about from the Irish contingent – the latter of which will also be hoping to break into the top ten. He currently stands on 25 Cheltenham wins!
