The Cheltenham November Meeting is when the National Hunt racing season really kicks off. Three days of exhilarating action at Prestbury Park, with Countryside Day on Friday before Super Saturday and Carnival Sunday.
There’s top-class action across the entire weekend, including two Grade 2s on Friday and two valuable Premier Handicaps on Sunday, but the feature of the entire festival is the Paddy Power Gold Cup on Saturday.
A two-mile, four-furlong steeplechase, the race is the first big handicap of the campaign, with the winner taking home £91,120. It often draws large, competitive fields, and this year is no different, so let’s look at some of the leading contenders.
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Meetmebythesea
2026 Cheltenham Festival winner Meetmebythesea leads the market in the famous JP McManus silks for trainer Ben Pauling. The six-year-old was a useful hurdler and promises to be an even better chaser, with the best win of his career thus far coming in the Jack Richard Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase here in March.
That made it three wins from four starts over the larger obstacles and six victories from eight starts under rules and marked a big bounce back from his disappointing effort prior when all but pulled up and last of six in the Grade 2 Game Spirit Chase at Newbury.
The six-year-old has won first-time out for the last two years in a row, including winning a Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase at Wetherby on his debut over fences last November, and he sets the standard here on his seasonal reappearance.
Quebecois
Paul Nicholls has a good record in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, winning it four times since 2012, including back-to-back with Stage Star and Il Ridoto in 2023 and 2024, and he appears to have a good chance of another victory with Quebecois.
The seven-year-old is yet to win in seven starts over fences but is the main challenger in the market after a solid second in an Intermediate Chase at Newton Abbot, beaten just under two lengths by El Capitaine on his seasonal reappearance.
A record of 0-7 over fences and just three wins from 14 career starts under rules doesn’t read the best on paper, but a bit of digging into the form will reveal that he’s often there or thereabouts, including finishing a very close third in the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March.
Quebecois has the benefit of a run already under his belt this season and is just 2lb higher than his Ultima mark over C&D, so he should be bang in the mix again.
Blueking d’Oroux
A challenger who will be very familiar to Nicholls, Blueking d’Oroux was removed from the 14-time Champion Trainer’s yard by owner Johnny de la Hey at the end of last season and put in the hands of reigning Champion Trainer Dan Skelton.
The seven-year-old was consistent when switched to fences last year, with his sole win over the larger obstacles coming in the Grade 2 Rising Stars Novices’ Chase at Wincanton last November, while he was runner-up three times, most notably on his final start in the Grade 1 Manifesto Novices’ Chase at Aintree in April.
Skelton has already tasted success with the De la Hey horses he inherited from Nicholls, with veteran Pic d’Orhy winning the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby recently, and it would be no surprise should he defend his Paddy Power Gold Cup with another of his new recruits.
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Zurich and July Flower, both trained by Henry de Bromhead, lead the Irish raiders as no horse from the Emerald Isles has won this contest since Tranquil Sea in 2009, while Skelton has another prominent chance in the form of 2026 Cheltenham Festival winner Madara.
