Luckiest colours and patterns ahead of Cheltenham

The colour white has featured on the winning silks a whopping 287 times, while yellow and red, ranking second and third respectively on the list, have won 190 and 161 times.

On the other end of the spectrum, only once has the combination of emerald green and yellow won. The same goes for the colour classified as “straw”.

Luckiest Patterns

Full List of Luckiest Patterns

When it comes to patterns, there's one that outshines all others. A jockey with a star(s) emblazoned on the body or cap of their silks has won 210 times in the last 15 years . So it probably is a good idea to have a star (or stars) stitched on your attire if you want to win.

Second on the list is hoops with 99 wins, followed by spots with 62 and stripes with 54. A hollow pattern that has won the fewest times - just once in the last 14 years.

Did 2024 Follow The Same Trends?

Colour

At the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, white was once again the luckiest colour and star was the luckiest pattern. Where we saw a change was that the colour pink was the third-luckiest, with 12 instances where the winner had that colour on their silks. That was two more than jockeys with red, historically the third-luckiest colour.

Pattern

In the realm of patterns, we saw halved silks trump spots and stripes by a margin of one to fill third place in the 2024 list, but stars and hoops remained in the top two positions.

Methodology:

The goal of this project has been to identify the colours and patterns that have historically brought the most winners at the Cheltenham races.

Leveraging data provided by IrishRacing, we have meticulously compiled a comprehensive dataset of race winners since 2009, with a special focus on the colours and patterns of their silks.

This dataset is unique as it includes detailed records of Cheltenham race winners over the past years, specifically highlighting the colours and patterns of the jockey silks worn during their victorious races.