Paul Townend’s Cheltenham winners

What are Paul Townend’s Cheltenham winners? Read here for a full list of Townend’s Cheltenham winners, including his Gold Cup and Champion Chase wins.

Across well over a decade, Paul Townend has enjoyed immense success at Cheltenham Festival. Primarily riding horses trained by Willie Mullins, Townend has jockeyed an array of horses to glory at the world’s most prestigious racing festival.

How many winners has Paul Townend had at Cheltenham Festival?

Townend has 42 winners at Cheltenham Festival following the 2026 Festival. Townend began his catalogue of Cheltenham successes in 2011 with a win in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle. He had to wait four years for his next win at the Festival, but that patience was rewarded with three wins in 2015. In fact, Ruby Walsh was the only jockey to ride more winners than Townend in 2015.

He was back to winning ways in 2017 with two more wins, and by the 2020 Festival, Townend was at the peak of his powers, topping the Festival charts with five winners.

Paul Townend Cheltenham winners over the years

Below we have listed the 42 of Townend’s winners, including his most recent 2026 Cheltenham Festival wins. The below table lists everything from his breakthrough ride of What A Charm in 2011 through to his four winners in 2026. After again topping the charts in 2026, Townend has now finished as the top jockey and five consecutive Cheltenham Festivals.

Paul Townend’s most notable Cheltenham wins over the years

Townend has checked all the boxes with his Cheltenham record. He’s won every major race at the Festival, including five Gold Cup wins and three triumphs in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Gold Cup (5 wins)

Townend has gone back-to-back on two occasions. He won the Gold Cup with Al Boum Photo in 2019 and 2020 and won riding Galopin Des Champs in 2023 and 2024. 

A 12/1 outsider in 2019, Townend was riding the favourite in 2020, 2023, and 2024. The 2023 win was a strong finish from Galopin Des Champs, fighting back after trailing the leaders at the midway stage, while the 2024 triumph saw Townend boss the race from start to finish.

In 2026, Townend won his most recent Gold Cup with Gaelic Warrior. Despite being joint favourite with Jango Baie, Townend and Gaelic Warrior proved a class above the rest. Crossing the finish line eight lengths ahead of his rival, this was an impressive victory.

Champion Chase (3 wins)

Like his Gold Cup glories, Townend won the Queen Mother Champion Chase in consecutive years: Energumene came out on top in 2022 and 2023. Both races were won emphatically, with a 10-length margin in 2023 and an eight-and-a-half-length margin in 2022.
He also added to this total in 2026, recovering well after making a mistake that almost cost him the race! He then powered to victory and won impressively.

Champion Hurdle (2)

Townend’s first win in the Champion Hurdle came on State Man at the 2024 Festival. Here was  heavy 2/5 favourite before the race, but it was perhaps tighter than Townend may have liked! Fortunately, in the end, he guided State Man to a narrow win over Irish Point and Luccia.
He then won the race a second time in 2026 on Lossiemouth. This fantastic display was Lossiemouth’s fourth consecutive Cheltenham victory, with this performance being a truly dominant one as Townend was able to leave any rivals in his wake.

Stayers’ Hurdle

Townend rode Penhill to a Stayers’ Hurdle win in 2018. A strong finish saw Penhill reach the finish line two lengths ahead of Supasundae.

Where does Paul Townend rank among Cheltenham’s most successful jockeys?

Townend is the third-most successful jockey in the history of Cheltenham Festival. With 42 wins to his name after the 2026 festival, he is only one behind second-placed Barry Geraghty.

Notably, among active jockeys, Townend tops the list of most successful Cheltenham Festival jockeys, with Nico de Boinville being the only other active jockey in the top 10.

Ruby Walsh, the most successful Cheltenham jockey ever, tops the list with 59 wins – Townend would need to continue dominating the Festival until the end of the decade to have a chance of toppling Walsh.

Will we see any Paul Townend Cheltenham winners in 2026?

Townend has seen four winners in the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, proving he’s still at the top of his game.

Il Etait Temps won the Queen Mother Champion Chase, beating out tough competition like Brighterdaysahead. Townend has picked up another win with Lossiemouth in the Champion Hurdle, proving far too strong for the opposition. He then saw victory with King Rasko Grey in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle. Finally, he claimed the biggest prize of them all, the Gold Cup, after a dominant performance with Gaelic Warrior.