Cheltenham Gold Cup: Rachael Blackmore voted most iconic winner ever in Betfair survey

• See results of Betfair 100 Years of Gold Cup survey

• Blackmore voted most iconic winner ever

• Betfair doubling donation from £5k to £10k into Serial Winners Fund during Cheltenham - read more here!

• Watch Rachael Blackmore's 2024 Cheltenham Preview

• Bet safely at the Cheltenham Festival - read more here

• Claim your completely free racing multi each day of Cheltenham here!

Betfair Ambassador Rachael Blackmore was voted the most iconic Gold Cup winner of all time in a Betfair survey of 1,500 sports fans to mark 100 years of the illustrious race.

With the racing world descending on Prestbury Park for the greatest show on turf - aka the Cheltenham Festival (12-15 March) - for four days of National Hunt action from Tuesday, it was Blackmore's history making 2022 triumph on A Plus Tard that UK fans chose as their favourite Gold Cup victory.

Watch Icons Of The Gold Cup...

Blackmore's win beats Arkle and Kauto Star

Two years ago, Blackmore became the first woman jockey to win the Gold Cup. The year before that she became the first woman to ride to victory in the Grand National, when she won on Minella Times.

In the Betfair survey, Blackmore's Gold Cup win on A Plus Tard came in ahead of Arkle's third-consecutive Gold Cup win in 1966, fan favourite Desert Orchid's in 1989 and fellow Betfair ambassador Paul Nicholls' stable start Kauto Star's in 2007 in the YouGov Sport survey.

100th Gold Cup is major sporting occasion

The Cheltenham Festival captures the imagination of sports fans and the Gold Cup is its most prestigious race. That's why 85% of sports fans say they will be watching the Gold Cup at 3:30pm on Friday.

Watching sport during working hours seems to be a recent trend, with 57% of sports fans polled who admitted to skiving off work revealing that they have done so on at least one occasion in the past 12 months.

In fact, almost two thirds of sports fans said they plan to watch the Gold Cup at home, with 8% planning a trip to the pub, while 9% say they will be tuning in at work.

Up and down the country, the afternoon will come to a standstill and all eyes will be on Prestbury Park as favourite Galopin Des Champs bids to win for a second successive year, Fastorslow and Shishkin try to stop him.

Last year's runner-up, Paul Nicholls' Bravemansgame, will attempt to go one better, while Blackmore is likely to ride Jungle Boogie - an outsider who, the Betfair ambassador said in her Festival preview, could cause an upset.

Cheltenham in top five UK sport venues

A lucky few will be there but many racing fans have Cheltenham racecourse on their list of iconic venues, as it ranked behind only Wembley, Wimbledon and Lord's in our survey.

In terms of racing fans' bucket lists, only the Grand National polled ahead of Cheltenham as events they most wanted to attend. They would rather go to the Festival than the FA Cup final, Wimbledon or an Ashes Test match at Lords.

The data shows just what an important place in fans' hearts Cheltehnam occupies and the Gold Cup is its showpiece.

Read Betting.Betfair for Cheltenham Tips

One fascinating stat that came back in Betfair's survey was that 30% of sports fans choose which horse to back based on its name. Among racing fans, 59% based their bets on the form.

Everyone loves a horse with a memorable name but here at Betting.Betfair we have some of the best tipsters in business and ambassador insight to give you the best chance of picking winners.

Read Betting.Betfair in the build-up and on all four days of the Festival for betting tips, exclusive insight from Rachael Blackmore and Paul Nicholls, and watch the videos below to whet your appetite and arm yourself with vital info.

Rachael's Runners Day 4 - watch and listen to her here!

Now Read Serial Winners Fund: Betfair doubling Rachael Blackmore winner donation to £10k at Cheltenham Festival