Pat Taaffe: Cheltenham Festival record
Pat Taaffe has 9 Festival winners on file.
Championship race wins
Pat Taaffe has 9 further wins in the Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase or Stayers' Hurdle, going back to 1960.
| Year | Race | Winner | SP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Queen Mother Champion Chase | Straight Fort | — |
| 1968 | Cheltenham Gold Cup | Fort Leney | 11/2 |
| 1966 | Cheltenham Gold Cup | Arkle | 1/10 |
| 1966 | Queen Mother Champion Chase | Flyingbolt | — |
| 1965 | Cheltenham Gold Cup | Arkle | 30/100 |
| 1964 | Cheltenham Gold Cup | Arkle | 7/4 |
| 1964 | Queen Mother Champion Chase | Ben Stack | — |
| 1961 | Queen Mother Champion Chase | Fortria | — |
| 1960 | Queen Mother Champion Chase | Fortria | — |
Taaffe rode Arkle to all three Gold Cups and added Fort Leney in 1968, and his five Champion Chase wins stood alone for decades. For a generation of Irish racegoers he was the rider of the best chaser anyone had seen.
Those wins came between 1960 and 1970, in the Queen Mother Champion Chase 5 times and the Cheltenham Gold Cup 4 times.
Winner counts only. Because the archive holds the first four home rather than full fields, these are not strike rates.
See the full card for each meeting on the results by year pages, or browse all jockeys.
Compiled and checked by <your name>. Last updated 28 October 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we will fix it.