Run over two miles, three furlongs and 210 yards on the third day of Royal Ascot, the Gold Cup has been the centrepiece of British staying flat racing since 1807. The names on its roll of honour over the past five years cover multiple champions, fairytale send-offs, and one of the most compelling rivalries the division has seen in years. You can check the odds for today’s racecards to see which horses are building towards the next renewal.
The race rewards horses who can sustain a high cruising speed over a distance that few can manage at Group 1 level. Here are the five horses who have done exactly that since 2021.
Subjectivist (2021)
Trained by Mark Johnston and ridden by Joe Fanning, Subjectivist produced one of the more authoritative Gold Cup displays in recent years when he powered five lengths clear of Princess Zoe on good to firm ground. The four-year-old son of Teofilo had already won the Prix Royal-Oak at Longchamp the previous autumn, and his Gold Cup win was marked by a front-running display that left the field with no answer.
Stradivarius, bidding for a record-equalling fourth Gold Cup win, was caught in traffic and finished fourth. In different circumstances, that race might have ended differently, but Subjectivist had earned his victory. A tendon injury sustained shortly afterwards cut short what looked set to be a long reign in the staying division.
Kyprios (2022)
Aidan O’Brien had long believed Kyprios was capable of winning a Gold Cup, and the four-year-old made it look straightforward at 13/8 favourite. Ryan Moore tracked the pace in midfield before moving through to win by half a length from Mojo Star, with Stradivarius again finishing third after meeting traffic. It was not as smooth as the margin suggests, but Moore had the race under control throughout the closing stages.
O’Brien described it as a masterful ride. Kyprios left Ascot with the Gold Cup and an expectation that he would return.
Courage Mon Ami (2023)
Few Gold Cups have produced a story quite like this one. Courage Mon Ami, a son of Frankel trained by John and Thady Gosden, had run just four times in his career when he lined up for the Gold Cup. He had won all three previous starts, but none of them came anywhere close to this level. Frankie Dettori, in his final year of race riding, settled him at the back of the field and threaded up the rail before switching outside the leader in the closing stages.
He beat Coltrane by three-quarters of a length. Dettori, who had won the race nine times in total, saluted the crowd as he crossed the line.
Kyprios (2024)
Kyprios returned for a second Gold Cup after injury had kept him away for most of 2023. He arrived at Ascot having posted back-to-back wins at Listed and Group 3 level in Ireland, and in a race where Coltrane caused a surprise by leading home the market on his way to a shock 10/1 victory in the early stages, it was Kyprios who produced the decisive move when it counted.
He won by a length from Coltrane, becoming only the third horse in Gold Cup history to recapture the title. It was O’Brien’s ninth victory in the race, a record, and Moore’s fourth.
Trawlerman (2025)
John and Thady Gosden’s Trawlerman had spent much of the previous two years finishing behind Kyprios. With the Ballydoyle horse absent in 2025, he came to Royal Ascot as the horse most likely to go on and win, and he did not disappoint. William Buick let him find his own rhythm in front, and he simply kept finding all the way to the line, winning from Illinois and Dubai Future. It was a fifth Gold Cup victory for Gosden, completing a run of five renewals dominated by two yards and a small number of exceptional stayers.