Presenting Percy and Native River are, at the time of writing, the two biggest favourites for the 2019 Cheltenham Gold Cup. The bookies don't make these decisions lightly, analysing form, race history and much more.
As a punter, the most we can do is try our best to analyse horses as well as the bookmakers do. One place to start is by looking at previous winners of the Gold Cup - after all history is the best indicator of the future.
Read on to find out what we can learn about this year's Gold Cup from the previous five winners.
2018 Gold Cup
* Winner: Native River
* Trainer: Colin Tizzard
The 70,000 crowd at the Gold Cup encounter in 2018 were treated to one of the most thrilling races in recent history. Native River and Might Bite fought it out over 22 fences and three and a quarter miles, with Native River fighting off a late push from Might Bite to take the victory.
Jockey Richard Johnson had not won a Gold Cup in 18 years, but he drew on all of his experience to get Native River over the line. Johnson's horse was not the fastest steeplechaser on the course, but he had the strength and stamina needed to win the Gold Cup.
(Native River won the 2018 Gold Cup and is a favourite to repeat that feat this year.)
2017 Gold Cup
* Winner: Sizing John
* Trainer: Jessica Harrington
Robbie Power ran Sizing John to victory in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown just a month before the Cheltenham Gold Cup. That victory saw Sizing John's odds fall to 7/1 before the Gold Cup.
Sizing John's jumping power and stamina helped to drag him over the line ahead of the 3/1 favourite Djakadam, who hit the penultimate fence and ended up finishing fourth.
2016 Gold Cup
* Winner: Don Cossack
* Trainer: Gordon Elliott
The 88th annual running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup culminated in a dramatic win for Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary's horse Don Cossack. Colin Tizzard's 10-year-old horse Cue Card went into this meeting as the favourite but lacked the requisite stamina to win, finishing third.
That left the battle for first between Djakadam and Don Cossack, with the latter demonstrating supreme staying power to finish four-and-a-half lengths ahead of Djakadam.
2015 Gold Cup
*Winner: Coneygree
*Trainer: Mark Bradstock
Nico de Boinville guided 7/1 Coneygree to victory in the 2015 Gold Cup, making the horse the first winning novice in the race since 1974. Coneygree took advantage of the soft ground to burst into an early lead.
Towards the end of the race the eight-year-old's stamina looked to be failing, but he held on for the win by a length and a half.
(Coneygree became the first novice to win the Gold Cup in 41 years.)
2014 Gold Cup
* Winner: Lord Windermere
* Trainer: Jim Culloty
The 2014 Gold Cup had it all. There was drama surrounding drugs and injuries and the result was not confirmed until 15 minutes after the culmination of the race. As the race neared its end Bobs Worth, Lord Windermere and Silviniaco Conti battled it out for the win.
Conti veered in the final straight, holding up Bobs Worth and allowing Lord Windermere to win courtesy of a photo finish.
What does history point to?
Stamina seems like the key attribute for a horse in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The fastest horse won't necessarily win, the track is not unaccustomed to an outside winner either.
Plenty of Cheltenham tipsters are suggesting Colin Tizzard's horse Native River can be confident heading into the race, but it's worth remembering that a horse hasn't retained its Gold Cup crown since 2004. Thistlecrack is an interesting bet for this year's Gold Cup though.
Injury ruled Thistlecrack out of last year's Gold Cup, but he has returned to fitness with a bang. Finishing second in the King George VI Chase in December was an early indicator of this horse's excellent stamina.
Currently you can get odds of 16/1 on Thistlecrack, but they are expected to shorten the closer we get to the Gold Cup. In an encounter where the favourites rarely win, Thistlecrack is your best bet to upset the odds in 2019.
