Explainer4 min read
The Ireland-versus-Britain scoreboard that runs through Festival week — how it is counted, the 2022–2026 results, the 2026 last-race arithmetic, and the reasons for Irish dominance that our data can actually support.
Editorial team
The Prestbury Cup is the Festival's Ireland-versus-Britain scoreboard. Every one of the 28 races scores one point for the country in which the winning horse is trained; the country with more winners at the end of Friday's last race takes the Cup. It shares its name with Prestbury Park, the racecourse's home, and was formalised as a named competition in 2014 — Britain won that first edition.
Three things follow from the scoring:
| Rule | Consequence |
|---|---|
| One point per race, 28 races | 15 wins secures the Cup outright |
| Trainer's country counts, not owner's, jockey's or horse's breeding | An Irish-bred horse trained in Britain scores for Britain |
| Every race counts equally | A 66/1 Grand Annual winner is worth the same as the Gold Cup winner |
| Year | Ireland | Great Britain | Margin | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 15 | 13 | 2 | Closest since 2019; decided by the last race |
| 2025 | 20 | 8 | 12 | Ireland's biggest margin in the window |
| 2024 | 18 | 9 | 9 | Total is 27, not 28 — we have not verified why |
| 2023 | 18 | 10 | 8 | |
| 2022 | 18 | 10 | 8 |
Ireland's 2026 win was its seventh in a row, which places the run at 2020–2026; 2019 was drawn 14–14. Earlier scorelines, including 2014's, are not yet verified in our database and are not shown.
The 2024 line deserves its own note: the published scoreline adds up to 27 races rather than 28. We record the figures as reported and flag the difference rather than explain it.
Going into the final race of the meeting — the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle — the score was Ireland 14, Britain 13.
| Scenario | Ireland | Britain | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish-trained winner | 15 | 13 | Ireland wins |
| British-trained winner | 14 | 14 | Draw |
Air Of Entitlement, trained in Ireland by Henry de Bromhead, won from the British-trained Hot Fuss (Tom Dascombe). Ireland 15–13. Had the placings been reversed, the Cup would have been drawn for the second time since 2019.
Plenty is written about Irish dominance. Here is what our verified data can actually support, and where it stops.
Willie Mullins had eight winners in 2026 — more than half of Ireland's 15. He has been leading trainer for eight consecutive years and has 121 Festival winners, 43 more than Britain's most successful trainer, Nicky Henderson (78).
All four 2026 championships went to Irish trainers: the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup to Mullins, the Stayers' Hurdle to Joseph O'Brien. In the Gold Cup, Irish trainers have won nine of the last ten runnings; Native River (2018) is the only British-trained winner in that span. The Stayers' Hurdle shows eight of ten to Ireland, the Champion Chase seven of ten. Only the Champion Hurdle is level at five each.
Of the 28 races in 2026, our database holds a verified winner for 16. Counting those 16 by trainer country:
| Ireland | Britain | |
|---|---|---|
| Winners among the 16 verified races | 11 | 5 |
| Total for the week (official) | 15 | 13 |
| Therefore, winners in the other 12 races | 4 | 8 |
The 16 verified races are weighted towards the Grade 1s. The arithmetic says Britain won eight of the remaining twelve — a group dominated by the handicaps. That is consistent with the picture the championship tables paint: Ireland's edge is concentrated at the top of the programme.
Some bookmakers price the Cup itself and the top-trainer and top-jockey markets alongside it. The same rules apply as to any Festival bet: the price is an implied probability, the market has an overround, and a bet struck before the meeting is an ante-post bet with the usual non-runner considerations. Our 2026 review carries the full verified results.
18+. Betting involves risk. BeGambleAware.org.
SourcesESPN — Prestbury Cup 2026 explained (score, seventh consecutive win, 2019 draw) (opens in a new tab)accessed 14 September 2026cheltenhambettingoffers.com — Prestbury Cup results 2022–2025 (opens in a new tab)accessed 14 September 2026Sporting Life — 2026 Festival leading trainer (Mullins, eight winners) (opens in a new tab)accessed 14 September 2026Sporting Life — 2026 Festival official result pages (opens in a new tab)accessed 14 September 2026Wikipedia — Cheltenham Gold Cup yearly pages (CC BY-SA) (opens in a new tab)accessed 14 September 2026
A competition between Ireland and Great Britain at the Cheltenham Festival, scored by counting the winners trained in each country across the week's 28 races. It shares its name with Prestbury Park, the racecourse's home, and was formalised in 2014.
Ireland, 15–13. It was Ireland's seventh consecutive win and the closest scoreline since 2019, when the competition was drawn 14–14.
One point per race to the country in which the winning horse is trained. With 28 races, 15 wins secures the Cup; 14–14 is a draw.
Our data supports two things: Willie Mullins alone had eight winners in 2026, more than half of Ireland's total, and Irish trainers took all four 2026 championship races and nine of the last ten Gold Cups. We do not hold runner numbers by nation, so we make no claim about strike rates.
Yes — Britain won the first formal edition in 2014. In our verified records Ireland has won every edition from 2020 to 2026, with 2019 drawn 14–14.
About the author
Editorial team
Our editorial desk compiles racecards, results, form and market data from cited sources and writes evidence-led analysis. Named contributors will be listed with their full track record as they join. We never delete losing tips.
Profile, articles and tip recordExplainer6 min
From ante-post to the Cheltenham roar — the racing and betting vocabulary you will meet on this site and in Festival coverage, defined in one or two plain sentences each.
Explainer5 min
The official going scale, what combined descriptions like "Soft, Heavy in places" mean, how the Old and New Courses differ, why March at Cheltenham is more often soft than not, and a checklist for reading going changes in Festival week.