| Class: | Premier Handicap |
| Horse Race: | December Gold Cup |
| Location: | Cheltenham Racecourse Cheltenham, England |
| Inaugurated: | 1963 |
| Race Type: | Steeplechase |
| Sponsor: | Virgin Bet |
| Website: | Cheltenham |
| Distance: | 2m 4f 127y (4,139 metres) |
| Surface: | Turf |
| Track: | Left-handed |
| Qualification: | Four-years-old and up |
| Weight: | Handicap |
| Purse: | £130,000 (2022) 1st: £74,035 |
|}The December Gold Cup (run since 2023 as the Virgin Bet December Gold Cup) is a Premier Handicap National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 2 miles and 4½ furlongs (2 miles 4 furlongs and 127 yards, or 4,139 metres), and during its running there are seventeen fences to be jumped. It is a handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year in December.
The event was first run in 1963. It was originally sponsored by Massey Ferguson and known as the Massey Ferguson Gold Cup. The race continued with this title until 1980, but since then it has had various sponsors and consequently several title changes. The 2005 running was named the Robin Cook Memorial Gold Cup. This was in memory of Robin Cook (1946–2005), a former Foreign Secretary who was a keen racing enthusiast. Boylesports supported the race from 2006 to 2009 as the Boylesports.com Gold Cup. The 2010 race was run as the Vote A P Gold Cup as part of a successful campaign to encourage racegoers to vote for Tony McCoy in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. In 2011 the racehorse owner Andy Stewart began backing the race to promote the Spinal Research charity, following a spinal injury suffered by his son Paul in 2008. The race was run as the Spinal Research The Atlantic 4 Gold Cup in 2011, the Paul Stewart IronSpine Charity Challenge Gold Cup in 2012 and was then named the Stewart Family Thank You Gold Cup in 2013. From 2014 to 2020 it was run as the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup and in 2021 it was titled the Racing Post Gold Cup. The race has become commonly known in the racing media as the December Gold Cup.[1] and in 2022 Ais took over sponsorship and the word December appeared in the official race title. Virgin Bet have sponsored the race since 2023. The race was give Grade 3 status when the National Hunt Pattern was revised in 1989 and was re-classified as a Premier Handicap from the 2022 running when Grade 3 status was renamed by the BHA.[2]
The race is often contested by horses which ran previously in the Paddy Power Gold Cup (also formerly known by other titles). Three have won both races in the same season – Pegwell Bay, Senor El Betrutti and Exotic Dancer.
Most successful horse (2 wins) :
Leading jockey (3 wins):
Leading trainer (5 wins):
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| Year | Winner | Age | Weight | Jockey | Trainer | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | width=160px | Limeking | 6 | 10–12 | width=180px | Toss Taaffe | width=180px | Danny Morgan |
| 1964 | Flying Wild | 8 | 10-06 | Tommy Carberry | Dan Moore | |||
| 1965 | Flyingbolt | 6 | 12-06 | Pat Taaffe | Tom Dreaper | |||
| 1966 | The Laird | 5 | 10-09 | Jeff King | Bob Turnell | |||
| no race 1967 | ||||||||
| 1968 | Tassilo | 10 | 10-01 | Aly Branford | Fulke Walwyn | |||
| 1969 | Titus Oates | 7 | 11–13 | Ron Barry | Gordon W. Richards | |||
| 1970 | Simian | 8 | 11-08 | David Moore | Auriol Sinclair | |||
| 1971 | Leap Frog | 7 | 12-01 | Val O'Brien | Tom Dreaper | |||
| 1972 | Arctic Bow | 7 | 10–12 | Andrew Turnell | Bob Turnell | |||
| 1973 | Pendil | 8 | 12-07 | Richard Pitman | Fred Winter | |||
| 1974 | Garnishee | 10 | 10-06 | David Mould | Harry Thomson Jones | |||
| 1975 | Easby Abbey | 8 | 11-10 | Ron Barry | Peter Easterby | |||
| no race 1976 | ||||||||
| 1977 | Even Melody | 8 | 11-02 | Colin Hawkins | Neville Crump | |||
| 1978 | The Snipe | 8 | 10-00 | Anthony Webber | John Webber | |||
| 1979 | Father Delaney | 7 | 10–10 | Alan Brown | Peter Easterby | |||
| 1980 | Bueche Giorod | 9 | 10-00 | Bryan Smart | Jenny Pitman | |||
| no race 1981 | ||||||||
| 1982 | Observe | 6 | 10–11 | John Francome | Fred Winter | |||
| 1983 | Fifty Dollars More | 8 | 11-10 | Richard Linley | Fred Winter | |||
| 1984 | Beau Ranger | 6 | 09-10 | John Hurst | John Thorne | |||
| 1985 | Combs Ditch | 9 | 11-09 | Colin Brown | David Elsworth | |||
| 1986 | Oregon Trail | 6 | 10-07 | Ronnie Beggan | Simon Christian | |||
| 1987 | Bishops Yarn | 8 | 10-07 | Richard Guest | Toby Balding | |||
| 1988 | Pegwell Bay | 7 | 10–13 | Brendan Powell | Tim Forster | |||
| 1989 | Clever Folly | 9 | 10-04 | Neale Doughty | Gordon W. Richards | |||
| no race 1990 | ||||||||
| 1991 | Kings Fountain | 8 | 11–10 | Anthony Tory | Kim Bailey | |||
| 1992 | Another Coral | 9 | 11-04 | Richard Dunwoody | David Nicholson | |||
| 1993 | Fragrant Dawn | 9 | 10-02 | Declan Murphy | Martin Pipe | |||
| 1994 | Dublin Flyer | 8 | 10-02 | Brendan Powell | Tim Forster | |||
| no race 1995 | ||||||||
| 1996 | Addington Boy | 8 | 11–10 | Tony Dobbin | Gordon W. Richards | |||
| 1997 | Senor El Betrutti | 8 | 11-03 | Graham Bradley | Susan Nock | |||
| 1998 | Northern Starlight | 7 | 10-01 | Tony McCoy | Martin Pipe | |||
| 1999 | Legal Right | 6 | 10–13 | Richard Johnson | Jonjo O'Neill | |||
| 2000 | Go Roger Go | 8 | 11-00 | Norman Williamson | Edward O'Grady | |||
| no race 2001 | ||||||||
| 2002 | Fondmort | 6 | 10-05 | Mick Fitzgerald | Nicky Henderson | |||
| 2003 | 7 | 10–13 | Mick Fitzgerald | Nicky Henderson | ||||
| 2004 | Monkerhostin | 7 | 10-02 | Richard Johnson | Philip Hobbs | |||
| 2005 | Sir Oj | 8 | 10-00 | Paul Carberry | Noel Meade | |||
| 2006 | Exotic Dancer | 6 | 11-04 | Tony Dobbin | Jonjo O'Neill | |||
| 2007 | Tamarinbleu | 7 | 11-08 | Denis O'Regan | David Pipe | |||
| no race 2008 | ||||||||
| 2009 | Poquelin | 6 | 11-08 | Ruby Walsh | Paul Nicholls | |||
| 2010 | Poquelin | 7 | 11-07 | Ian Popham | Paul Nicholls | |||
| 2011 | Quantitativeeasing | 6 | 10-07 | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson | |||
| 2012 | Unioniste | 4 | 10-00 | Harry Derham | Paul Nicholls | |||
| 2013 | Double Ross | 7 | 10-08 | Sam Twiston-Davies | Nigel Twiston-Davies | |||
| 2014 | Niceonefrankie | 8 | 11-05 | Aidan Coleman | Venetia Williams | |||
| 2015 | Village Vic | 8 | 10-00 | Richard Johnson | Philip Hobbs | |||
| 2016 | Frodon | 4 | 10-10 | Sam Twiston-Davies | Paul Nicholls | |||
| 2017 | Guitar Pete | 7 | 10-02 | Ryan Day | Nicky Richards | |||
| 2018 | Frodon | 6 | 11-12 | Bryony Frost | Paul Nicholls | |||
| 2019 | Warthog | 7 | 10-03 | David Noonan | David Pipe | |||
| 2020 | Chatham Street Lad | 8 | 10-10 | Darragh O'Keeffe | Michael Winters | |||
| 2021 | Coole Cody | 10 | 10-12 | Adam Wedge | Evan Williams | |||
| no race 2022 | ||||||||
| 2023 | Fugitif | 8 | 11-03 | Gavin Sheehan | Richard Hobson |