Which horse holds the course record for the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

The Cheltenham Gold Cup, run over 3 miles 2½ furlongs on the New Course at Prestbury Park, is the most prestigious steeplechase in Europe. Consequently, the race is usually contested by a competitive, double-figure field of the finest staying steeplechasers in training and invariably run at an end-to-end gallop, which offers no hiding place for any horse lacking jumping ability and/or stamina.

With that in mind, the 2011 renewal of the Cheltenham Gold Cup produced one of the strongest fields ever assembled, including Kauto Star, Denman and Imperial Commander who, between them, had won the last four renewals of the Gold Cup. Favourite, though, was the six-year-old Long Run, fresh from victory in the rearranged King George VI Chase at Kempton in January and vying to become the first of his age group to win the ‘Blue Riband’ event since Mill House in 1963.

Indeed, it was Long Run who justified his billing, putting in a superb display of jumping and powering away in the closing stages to beat Denman by 7 lengths, with Kauto Star a further 4 lengths behind in third place. Fittingly, his winning time, 6 minutes 29.70 seconds, set a new course record for the Cheltenham Gold Cup since it was transferred to the New Course in 1959.

Can I be successful using free horse racing tips?

Many reputable websites, including, but by no means limited to, At The Races, Racing Post, Sporting Life and Timeform, publish free horse racing tips. Obviously, as with any horse racing tips, there is no guarantee of success, but, provided you choose an established tipster, with a proven track record, there is no reason why free horse racing tips cannot win you money in the long term.

Some, but not all, free horse racing tipsters operate a ‘points’ system, whereby they suggest the number of points you should bet on each selection. Each point represents whatever monetary value you decide, based on how much money you can afford to set aside for your betting bank. For example, Hugh Taylor, lead tipster at At The Races, advises between one and five points, win or each-way, on each selection. Indeed, Taylor has enjoyed plenty of success, with profits in excess of 100 points for eleven consecutive seasons.

Aside from his ability to find value selections, Taylor also provides a complete, ‘warts and all’ record of all his selections – a distinguishing feature of any horse racing tipster worth his salt – so you can determine, fairly quickly, if his service is likely to suit you. Of course, Taylor is not the only free horse racing tipster – in fact, far from it – but, whoever you choose, it is worth making sure that they match your expectations, in terms of average odds, bet frequency, strike rate and so on.

What is a Listed race?

In horse racing, a Listed race is a race at a level just below Group level or, in other words, three steps down from the highest level, Group One, in terms of quality. Listed races are regulated by the European Pattern Committee and represent the easiest opportunity for horses to earn ‘black type’, so-called because horses that have won, or at least been placed, at Listed or Group level have their names printed in bold, black type, in sales catalogues.

No minimum official rating is required to run in a Listed race but, nonetheless Listed races are considered more prestigious than handicap races. Like Group races, they are intended to be a test of class, so horses compete at level weights, subject to weight-for-age and weight-for-sex allowances and penalties for winning in a higher grade – that is, in a Group One, Group Two or Group Three contest – with a certain period of time. Notable Listed races in the British horse racing calendar include the Wolferton Stakes, Windsor Castle Stakes andh Chesham Stakes, all of which are run at Royal Ascot, but there are literally dozens of such races run up and down the country throughout.

What is a selling race?

In horse racing, a selling race, also known as a ‘selling plate’, or ‘seller’, for short, is a low-grade race in which the winner must be offered for sale at public auction, subject to a minimum bid of £3,200, or more, at the discretion of the racecourse. Aside from the winner, beaten horses in a selling race may be ‘claimed’ for a value specified by the trainer of the horse in question when making the entry for the race.

Selling races can be conditions, or stakes, races, in which horses carry weight according to their age and sex, or handicaps, in which horses carry weight according to their official handicap ratings, as allotted by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), Either way, the prize money in selling races is generally poor and, prior to October, 2018, selling races were subject to varying amounts of commission, up to 50% above the minimum bid, from racecourse to racecourse. At that point, in a effort to encourage owners to run their horses in selling races, the BHA capped the maximum commission retained by racecourses at 10% of the sale price.

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