Winning once at the prestigious Cheltenham horse racing festival is a dream that the majority of trainers, owners, and jockeys will never experience.
So for a horse to win two years in a row, it takes a very special equine athlete indeed.
In years gone by, there have been some racing greats that have managed to win back-to-back races at the Cheltenham Festival, whilst the likes of Best Mate, Istabraq, and Tiger Roll have incredibly managed to win three times.
2024 Defending Champions
Galopin Des Champs (Gold Cup)
The only place to start is with the Festival's most prestigious race, the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Twelve months ago, the brilliant Galopin Des Champs showed the world just how good he was when winning the race by seven lengths.
It was one of the most visually impressive Gold Cup performances of all time and the Willie Mullins-trained horse will return this year as the Evens favorite in the racing betting for the week's showpiece race. Al Boum Photo was the last horse to achieve the feat in 2019 and 2020 but he could soon be joined by another Willie Mullins-trained superstar in Galopin Des Champs.
👀 Martin Brassil on GALOPIN DES CHAMPS, per @geegeez_uk:
— Road To Cheltenham (@RoadCheltenham) January 10, 2024
"He was great in the Savills Chase, wasn’t he? He really was. It’s two-nil at the moment anyway."
👊 Fighting talk from the FASTORSLOW trainer.pic.twitter.com/iE94ZDqUEW
Constitution Hill (Champion Hurdle)
If you follow racing and have never heard of Constitution Hill, then you must have been living under a rock. The most famous, and arguably the best racehorse in training today, Constitution Hill blitzed the field in last season's Champion Hurdle, and it would be a huge surprise if he were not to repeat the feat in 2024.
The brilliant Honeysuckle achieved back-to-back Champion Hurdle wins in 2021 and 2022, whilst before that, Buveur d'Air also achieved the feat in 2017 and 2018. Both of those were extremely talented horses, and frighteningly for his opponents, Constitution Hill is even better.
Envoi Allen (Champion Chase)
Envoi Allen took advantage of the absence of Allaho to win the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham last year, but that rival is back in action again and will look to scupper any title defense. Allaho has already achieved the feat of winning consecutive Ryanair Chases before last year, and he would become the first horse to win three renewals of the Grade 1 race if he were to be successful this season.
If he is to achieve this, he will have to get the better of his fellow Cheveley Park Stud-owned, Envoi Allen. Trained by Henry de Bromhead in Ireland, Envoi Allen outstayed his rivals in last year's race and has performed admirably in two top-class races already this season.
He also holds an entry in this year's Gold Cup, but it would be a strange decision were he to run in that race instead of attempting to defend his Ryanair title.
Unbeaten Champion Hurdler Constitution Hill walking on water at Seven Barrows #constitutionhill #champion #horseracing #racingpost #sevenbarrows #sonya1 #gmaster @racingpost pic.twitter.com/azPxQ2CMnF
— Edward Whitaker (@edward_whitaker) January 11, 2024
These are the three highest-profile horses attempting to defend their titles at the Cheltenham Festival in 2024, but there are plenty of others that will be attempting to achieve the same feat in some of the lesser races. Whether they be running in Grade 1 races or one of the many handicap races throughout the week, any horse that can win twice in a row is a very special animal indeed.
